Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is to wield the big stick on Sudatel, telecommunications and Internet service provider in Sudan, which bought 70 per cent of Intercellular Nigeria Limited for $50 million following inactivity in the company months after the Sudanese telco, sealed the deal.
Sudatel was hoping to use the acquisition of Intercellular to launch itself into the now legendary Nigerian lucrative telecom market.
The apex regulatory authority of the telecommunications industry is concerned that the promise of fund and expertise injection by Sudatel has not been met nine months after the deal was struck.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that Sudatel bought over Intercellular December last year after the collapse of Telecel’s $137 million deal with the Nigerian operator.
Apart from $50 million for 70 per cent of Intercellular, Sudatel agreed to inject 500 million dollars into the Nigerian teleco within the next five years in order to beef up operations.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that most part of the deal have not been met and as a result, Intercellular, once a leading fixed wireless operator in Nigeria is now operating in fits and starts following the exit of some of its best hands.
In the past nine months also, there has been little or no addition in the capacity of the Nigerian telco, which commenced operation in 1998 as the first indigenous wireless communications provider in Nigeria.
Inquiries sent to Sudatel on [email protected] to confirm the delay in the injection of funds and expertise into the Nigerian operations were not answered.
Fidel Otuya, director, external communications of Intercellular Nigeria when contacted on the phone, said he did not have details of the deal and therefore could not comment.
Intercellular has licenses to operate VSAT gateways and to provide cellular telephone and terrestrial wireless data and Internet services.
The Nigerian telco which also won a unified access service licence from the NCC in May 2006 at a cost of $2.2 million has about 120,000 subscribers.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that in the past, Alheri Engineering, a wholly Nigerian owned subsidiary of the Dangote Group and the Mubadala Development Company of the UAE had at one point or the other expressed interest in Intercellular.
Sudatel is a telecommunications and Internet service provider in the Sudan responsible for the construction and maintenance of Sudan's telecom infrastructure.
The company is more than 60per cent owned by the Sudanese government while the remainder is owned by private interests.
Its stock is listed on the Bahrain Stock Exchange.
