Intercellular Plans Comeback as Telto Group Acquires Stake

Telto Group, a Middle East investment conglomerate has secured 70 percent stake in Intercellular, the foremost Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operator in the country and hope to positively turn the company around for commercial launch and into profitability.

The Middle East investment firm is hoping to use the acquisition of Intercellular to launch itself into the Nigerian lucrative telecom market and revive the comatose CDMA segment of the telecom industry.

Mohammed Waya, chief technical officer, Intercellular Nigeria, confirmed the new arrangement and added that the company will be launching on 4G technology with mobility which puts Intercellular in better position to deliver high speed data and voice clarity.

The re-launch of the company slated for December Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered, is targeting six cities in the initial launch covering Abuja, Kano, Kaduna, Lagos, Port Harcourt and Benin.

 “Our network in these cities will be tested by November in readiness of the formal roll out by December 2015. Intercellular is launching as a nation-wide network operator, but will roll out in these cities first and thereafter extend coverage to other parts of the country,” he said.

Telto group is not a network operator but has investments in telecoms, hospitality, real estate and banking.

It would be recalled that in 2007, Sudatel, telecommunications and Internet service provider based in Sudan, bought 70 per cent of Intercellular Nigeria Limited for $50 million.

But the promise of fund and expertise injection by Sudatel was never met and the deal fell apart.

Earlier in 2006, a South African firm, Global Vision Telecom (GVT), has invested $137.5 million (N17.8 billion) in Intercellular Nigeria Plc, to acquire the majority stake in the company.

GVT is a private company owned by a Rwandese, Mr. Miko Rwayitare and it is managed by a subsidiary company, Telecel, which is reputed to have built about 14 telecommunications networks across Africa.

Though not much is known about Telto group Investments, telecom stakeholders in Nigeria are hopeful that with this new deal in place, that Intercellular will experience a new lease of life.

Intercellular was established in 1998 and won a unified access service licence from the Nigerian Communications Commision in May 2006 at a cost of NGN260 million (USD2.2 million). It has between 100,000 and 120,000 subscribers.

Other companies said to have shown interest in a stake in Intercellular were Alheri Engineering, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dangote Group, and the Mubadala Development Company of the UAE.