Celtel acquires Vmobile

On 'condition'

FINALLY, Vmobile Nigeria has entered what it called ‘conditional acquisition’ with Celtel International as announced by the Public Relations Manager, Mr. Emeka Oparah on Sunday.

Announcing this new development, Mr. Oparah said that Vmobile has entered into a “conditional agreement with Celtel International whereby Celtel will acquire a 65 per cent stake in the company for a total consideration of around US$1,005 million.”

He also said that the remaining shareholders have an option to sell their shares to Celtel at a similar valuation at a later date.

ITRealms Online recalled that since getting its 2001, Vmobile Nigeria has undergone series of restructuring including a transformation from initial Econet Wireless to Vodacom and now Vmobile Nigeria.

Also Vmobile has been on longer head with its erstwhile owner, Econet Wireless International (EWI).

Vmobile Nigeria is a telecommunications company providing Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) services in the country and was incorporated in 2000.

The company pride itself as the first GSM operator to initiate call on August 5, 2001.

Vmobile recently announced the achievement of 5 million active subscribers with coverage in over 600 towns and 8000 communities across the six geopolitical zones of the country.

Currently Vmobile is pursuing an aggressive network rollout as well as a quality and service upgrade in order to fulfill its mission to provide world-class customer service so as to make telecommunications an enjoyable experience for all Nigeria, under its Project ROSE.

Further, it could be recalled that still keen on grabbing its own market share in the West African telecommunications sector, with special emphasis on Nigeria, the management of Celtel International Bv of Netherlands, has equipped its top team with a training session at the London Business School (LBS).

Celtel’s investment hitherto on the continent is over $750 million, even as Nigeria is yet to benefit strongly in this area.

The training recently concluded saw 25-key officials from Celtel West Africa based in Sierra Leone attending the LBS Advanced Management Programme.

The programme, ITRealms Online learnt was designed for top 80 people within Celtel globally.

The 25-person team from West Africa represents about 20 per cent of the total beneficiaries, an indication that it is determined to get hold of its market share in the sub-region, precisely in Nigeria.

Source s close to Celtel informed that under the agreement, Celtel has to pay for the acquired shares within 30 days as from Monday, April 17.Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of MTC, Dr. Saad Al-Barrak, endorsed for his company.