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Nigeria’s largest mobile network operator, MTN Nigeria, is
said to have rebooted talks to acquire the spectrum of licence 9mobile
(formerly known as Etisalat).
According to sources familiar with the deal, MTN Nigeria and
Emerging Markets Telecommunications Service Limited (EMTS), trading as 9mobile
in the country are in advanced stage of spectrum trade negotiations as a viable
option for closing a telecoms deal.
An online platform, Technology Times, had hinted that the
option is being explored to rejuvenate the telco after the exit of Mubadala of
United Arab Emirate (UAE) in 2017 which was the financier of the carrier.
Efforts to speak with the Public Relations Lead, Chineze Amanfo, proved futile as several calls put to her number failed to connect.
However, a very close source to 9mobile, who spoke on condition of anonymity described the report as uncoordinated speculation which was laced with ramblings here and there. According to the source, the report is nothing to respond to.
In a telephone interview, the source said: “Go and read the
story very well. If you read the story very well, you will discover that the
author is perambulating. So, I do not know which of the many issues raised is
worthy of being responded to. At one breadth, the author says it is spectrum;
in another, it is MNVO. If 9mobile wants to sell stakes to MTN, the management
would come out clear and straight about.”
However, an insider confirmed the deal. The source said the deal is on between the two telcos with MTN acquiring the spectrum which is the oxygen of the telecoms industry. It is still unfolding and more developments would be revealed in the coming weeks. “There are conversations around that area and details will be made known later,” the source said.
The exit of the UAE investors triggered a chain of events that nearly culminated in the take-over of the telco by commercial banks. It took the joint intervention of the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele and the former Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof Garba Danbatta.
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