NATCOM Consortium, the parent company of Nigeria Telecommunications (NITEL) and its subsidiary Nigerian Mobile Telecommunications Limited (M-Tel), is planning to roll out 4G LTE services in March this year, initially covering Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.
The NATCOM chairman, Olatunde Ayeni said that NATCOM has invested USD1 billion into NITEL/M-Tel since its acquisition last year, when the former gained access to 40MHz of 900MHz and 1800MHz spectrum that was previously used for providing 2G GSM services.
As it was reported in April 2014 Nigeria’s Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) confirmed that the outstanding balance for the assets (70% of the USD252.52 million total bid)of NITEL and M-Tel had been paid by NATCOM Consortium.
NATCOM Consortium announced as NITEL’s preferred buyer in December 2014, NATCOM is set up for the acquisition, comprising a consortium of companies reportedly including NATSPACE Telecommunication Investment, Hong Kong-based telco PCCW Global, Prime Union Investment Limited, Olutoyl Estate Development & Services, Sahara Energy Resources, Legal Resources Alliance & Co and technical partner LM Ericsson Nigeria.
