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Putting court cases aside, the Nigerian Communications Commission
(NCC) has given the final regulatory approval to the acquisition of
Visafone Communications Limited, Nigeria’s surviving Code Division
Multiple Access (CDMA) operator by MTN Nigeria.
The deal which was sanctioned in late December 2015 allows MTN
Nigeria to utilise Visafone’s 800MHz spectrum to launch fourth
generation long term evolution (4GLTE) services.
LEADERSHIP had yesterday in a story titled ‘2016 ICT: Year of
Consolidations, New Licences’ reported that “a major mobile GSM operator
would acquire a small mobile operator with 4G spectrum any moment from
now.”
LEADERSHIP had also in April 2015 reported moves by MTN Nigeria to
takeover Visafone as it was not sure that Nigerian regulatory
authorities would make available Digital Dividend Spectrum for mobile
operators in line with the recommendation of the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU) by June 17, 2015.
MTN Nigeria’s acquisition of Visafone has also led to mass lay off of
Visafone staff as the CDMA operator moves to wind down majority of its
operations in the country.
Reliable sources said MTN is not taking along the liabilities of the
CDMA company.The only categories of staff said to be left are the
personnel on the transmission team.
“This is about the third time that we are downsizing. The second one
was in 2013. This is the third one which began last year but was only
communicated to the affected staff on Tuesday January 5, 2015. Our key
personnel are still retained” said a source familiar with the
transaction.
A source at MTN Nigeria said it’s headquarters in South Africa will
fornally issue a statement before the week runs out. The value of the
final transactions could also not be established as at press time last
night.
The move will give MTN edge over other mobile operators as the first
major operator to introduce 4G voice telephony (VoLTE). Visafone is
owned by Mr. Jim Ovia, one of Nigeria’s leading bankers, and technology
investors. He also owns Cyberspace, an Internet Service Provider (ISP).
Visafone was formed in 2007 after acquiring the networks of Cell
Communications, Independent Telecommunications Network (ITN) and Bordex
Telecoms in Aba, Abia State.
It has however faced increased competition form GSM operators who had
huge cash to roll out new services, expand and compete aggressively.
The 800MHz frequency band covers 790-862MHz. Together with the 700MHz
both are referred to as the Digital Dividend Spectrum by the ITU.
One of the affected workers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity,
claimed that the sack came as a surprise to majority of them.
“Though, we learnt that the management would downsize, but later in
2016. It is however, surprising that they are sending majority of us
away so early in the year. Though they paid three months severance
benefit, but should it be this way.
“Some of us have put in five to 10 years of our lives in keeping the
business going, but see what we are getting now. It is well” one of the
affected staff said. MTN is seeking to use Visafone’s 800MHz spectrum to
launch 4GlTE.
Under the plan, over two million existing Visafone subscribers will
be migrated onto the MTN Nigeria network, a development that will now
enable them use their voice and data services, anywhere where the latter
has network coverage.
MTN launched 4GLTE in South Africa in 2013 and since them has been
looking at how it could launch the technology in Nigeria. According to
NCC’s frequency allocation table on the regulator’s website, MTN, Glo,
Airtel and Etisalat operator on 900MHz and 1800MHz while Visafone,
Megatech, Prestel, Lakes, Odu’a Telecom, Sunmail, ICL, Multilinks, LT
Mobile, Rainbownet, Intercellular and MOC|ZTE are aloocated 800MHz
spectrum bands.
With massive competition from other big operators and regulatory
infractions which has affected MTN Nigeria’s position in terms of market
share and average revenue per user (ARPU), MTN decided to strengthen
it’s position with the 4G spectrum from
Visafone. The move will give MTN
edge over other mobile operators as the first major operator to
introduce 4G voice telephony (VoLTE). Visafone is owned by Mr. Jim Ovia,
one of Nigeria’s leading bankers, and technology investors. He also
owns Cyberspace, an Internet Service Provider (ISP).
Visafone was formed in 2007 after acquiring the networks of Cell
Communications, Independent Telecommunications Network (ITN) and Bordex
Telecoms in Aba, Abia State. It has however faced increased competition
form GSM operators who had huge cash to roll out new services, expand
and compete aggressively. The 800MHz frequency band covers 790-862MHz.
Together with the 700MHz both are referred to as the Digital Dividend
Spectrum by the ITU.
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