In some months' time, the first national carrier will be up for sale to the highest bidder.

What do you think is the worth of the network not forgeting to include its landlines and other facilities!

Will it advisable to let MTN buy it over and add it to its network?

Okoegwale

I think that this can only be a good thing as nitel atm is poorly run and offers unreliable services, with privatization a company cannot afford to have a company run like that, so they will need to improve it...

Lets hope they do a better job this time around after that Pentascope mess. NITEL could be a gold mine if properly managed but then.....

If MTN will manage it properly, it can go to them but there should be a condition that there must be at least 70% local content of staff at all levels.

I don't think MTN qualify. There is a conflict of interest there. What will happen to MTEL which is own by NITEL if MTN acquire NITEL?

Mtel has been seperated from NITEL and has been operating as an independent company. It will also be privatised after NITEL. There would be no conflict of interest but competition.

I don't like the idea of MTN buying NITEL.

Nobody's going to let MTN buy NITEL. I will march the streets in protest against such a thing!

seun:

Nobody's going to let MTN buy NITEL. I will march the streets in protest against such a thing!

Update on Nitel sale. Below are the names of interested bidders. BPE to announce the short listed bidders sometimes this week.

The full list of companies that expressed an interest in Nitel:

1. CelTel International B.V.

2. NewTel International

3. Z.T.E Corporation

4. Metallon Corporation of South Africa

5. Dimension Data

6. Huawei Technologies Company Ltd.

7. Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL – India)

8. Vodafone Group Services Limited, England

9. MTN Nigeria Comm. Limited

10. Tel Africa Group U.K.

11. ACME Global/General Dynamic, USA

12. Meridian Global Telecom, UK

13. Trigger Development Limited, London, UK

14. Surburdan Telecom

15. Primus Capital Limited

16. Universal Link Inc.

17. Telkom South Africa/Vodacom

18. Global Infrastructure Holdings Limited, Dubai

19. F. T. Networks Limited

20. Name not specified on envelope

Source: BPE

Let the best man win...and i hope its not MTN!

Does anyone know if any of those companies are indigenous? or it purely foreign. I dont really think Nitel should be sold. Telkom does ok and its a state own company. What needs to be done is further deregulation of the industy

Suburban is indigenous but they are partnering with BT of the UK in this bid. It will be difficult to get a complete indigenous company to bid for NITEL considering the nature of its licence, assets and liablities. Let us not forget that NITEL and M-Tel are both going up for privatisation. Only big companies can run them efficiently

delarontus:

Mtel has been seperated from NITEL and has been operating as an independent company. It will also be privatised after NITEL. There would be no conflict of interest but competition.

I quite disagree. M-tel is wholly owned by NITEL, so both companies will be sold together. What could happen is that the buyers will run the mobile subsidiary seperately as in the case of Telkom of SA which partly owns Vodacom.

A shame again!!! Wetin dey worry this country? MTN again? Its total domination of our economy by the south africans.....

Kukura on the Move:

MTN again? Its total domination of our economy by the south africans.....

Well I dont want MTN getting NITEL's license either because of competition but if the economy is dominated by South Africa, so what? Why do you guys think the South African is championing the NEPAD issue? They want to take over Africa with the help of Nigeria..

Personally I don't care who runs what, as long as everything is working right, and there is fairness and equity. I would have prefered ZTE or even Huawei both are Chiness companies. My reason is that they will build a resilence network that will be affordable by all. I also know that once Vodafone or Telkom wins, that will mean an automatic unbundling of MTEL to VODACOM as they both have a stake in VODACOM, that way, VODACXOM will still come into Nigeria through the back door if their deal with V-mobile fails.

@bell: That is exactly the point and that was why i said it wil be difficult for an indigenous company to win the bid alone.

@Tobi: ZTE and Huawei do not have experiences as telecommunications operators. Rather they are equipment vendors but so far they have been doing wel and want to break into the Nigerian market.

The aggressive nature of the chinese in getting into Nigerian telco industry kind of worries me. The issue in privatising NITEL should be cash and pedigree. While these guys might have the cash, they do not have the pedigree. They are simply not operators, why has Ericsson, Siemens and Nokia not tried to buy in too, are they also not vendors and Ericsson and Siemens know NITEL well enough.
As for foriegn investors coming in, it will be with Nigerians involved.
And Obong, pleassssse, deregulation will further kill NITEL with its present structure. The best thing that could happen to the Nigerian economy is that NITEL be privatised and made effective.
For example do you know NITEL has the cheapest sign in fee for their internet service?
Do you know they have prepaid calling cards ?
Do you know that NITEL has constatly been finding it difficult to pay staff salaries for a while now?
Nitel as it is now is rather a drain on the Govt's purse, it should be put in a position to make profit ad serve its purpose and that is only by privatisation.

Do you also know that NITEL has slashed its call rates?

bell:

The aggressive nature of the chinese in getting into Nigerian telco industry kind of worries me. The issue in privatising NITEL should be cash and pedigree. While these guys might have the cash, they do not have the pedigree. They are simply not operators, why has Ericsson, Siemens and Nokia not tried to buy in too, are they also not vendors and Ericsson and Siemens know NITEL well enough.
As for foriegn investors coming in, it will be with Nigerians involved.
And Obong, pleassssse, deregulation will further kill NITEL with its present structure. The best thing that could happen to the Nigerian economy is that NITEL be privatised and made effective.
For example do you know NITEL has the cheapest sign in fee for their internet service?
Do you know they have prepaid calling cards ?
Do you know that NITEL has constatly been finding it difficult to pay staff salaries for a while now?
Nitel as it is now is rather a drain on the Govt's purse, it should be put in a position to make profit ad serve its purpose and that is only by privatisation.

I agree NITEL's present structure hampers it, which is precisely why I think deregulation would be effective. It would force them to cut the fat and become mor efficient. The problem with the sale of NITEL is it gives a foreign company (say MTN) way too much power in our economy. This isnt a cassava plant they are buying, its the main phone company.

I agree with the prevous poster that without Nigeria (and Congo to an extent) south african cannot dominate africa. Once Nigeria is secured, the rest ae peanuts. But I have faith in the private sector of Nigeria, and if Adenuga is any indication, it would be so easy to take over our economy

My aunt works at NITEL. Does this mean they will sack all workers?? I hope not. anyways.. alll this TELS, are crap. why will they sell NITEL. I really don't need an answer!

hot-angel, glad you don't need an answer, but I have to give this. NITEL staff had better watched their backs, there definitely will be some laying off, the extent is what no one can determine now, NITEL in a new dispensation will not need as many unskilled labour as obtains in NITEL. NITEL staff are largely unskilled, and there are too many redundant and underutilzed staff.

Obong, we were told that as at three or so years ago NITEL had 450,000 lines that number has reduced to 250,000 or there about now this is courtesy of deregulation and of course NITEL's mis management. If Nigerians can hook up and buy why not, this companies are being badly runned to day because they are seen as no man,s property. The management has no stake besides their salaries in the company. If runned by people who have a stake in the business we surely will see improvement. The likes of Adenuga and Dangote( in the cement industry) have proven what Nigerians can do. And Globacom will be there as a second National carrier to balance the excesses whoever buys might have.

I will be glad if VODACOM succeeds.

bell:

The aggressive nature of the chinese in getting into Nigerian telco industry kind of worries me. The issue in privatising NITEL should be cash and pedigree. While these guys might have the cash, they do not have the pedigree. They are simply not operators, why has Ericsson, Siemens and Nokia not tried to buy in too, are they also not vendors and Ericsson and Siemens know NITEL well enough.

Hey bell,

I really think u shld try and understand these Chiness guys..take Virgin Mobile of UK for instance..every1 knows that virgin does not have a physical network..what they do is to buy airtime from vodafone, T-mobile, orange etc and resell to their own customers..but u know what they r trying to do with V-mobile? They r moving away from what they r knowned for to investing in a phyiscal network.

Going further...Motorola is an equipement supplier but they r running a network now somewhere in Malaysia. Huawei and ZTE r breaking away from the tradition of just supplying equipment, now they feel they have the capacity to run a physical network..is anything bad in  that??

While on this issue, Siemens was the technical partner of NITEL and they were practically in charge of NITEL during IBB and Abacha's regims. ALCATEL is practically running Glo network..i mean they do everything from RF Planning to Network Monitoring, Fiber Laying etc..

So Bell..the equipment suppliers are moving into main stream network operation.

Huawei is giving Ercisson a run for their money by taking vital equipment supply contracts from Ericsson at MTN, V-Mobile, Starcomms, Reltel and Multilinks, Bell these chiness guys r building confidence, thats pedigree to me.

i will like to see NITEL in the hands of the chiness, then u will know what service affordability and resilence means.

The only thing worse than a government monopoly is a private sector monopoly, and the government should be careful not to sell NITEL into the hands of South Africans. Remember that NITEL has complete control of SAT-3 fiber optic cable Internet connectivity port in Nigeria?

Would you like that complete control to be in the hands of any private company, not to talk of a company like MTN Nigeria that has been accused of exploitative pricing? I don't think so!

Well it will not be sold 100% as Nigerians still have a chance to buy the remaining 49% in form of shares including the workers.

I cannot but weep for my nation..nothing seems to work!!!
Not sure what to think.....but MTN SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO BUY THE COMPANY.

They will not be allowed.

Well, 51% of NITEL is going to the Middle East telecom giant Orascom for a mere $256M--and that includes SAT 3, the fixed LAN lines and M-tel, the mobile network that NITEL owns (and for which it paid $285M to obtain a license). What a bargain!

HesInMe,
You are wrong. The sale of NITEL does not include the SAT 3 infrastructure. Although you are right for it being sold for a mere $256..

Do you know that NITEL has the facilities to provide Nigerians with BROADBAND internet services?

256m is not mere for a crappy national carrier. do u know they v debt overhang of around 160b naira out of which 40b is pension liabilities?