By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
Telecommunications giant, Orange, has acquired Airtel Sierra Leone with the final documentation having been signed, sealed and delivered on Tuesday at the National Telecommunications Commission (NATCOM) headquarters.
It completes the takeover of the Indian company Bharti Airtel in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone by the French one, a process which began in January 2016.
The takeover will be implemented by an Orange subsidiary in Senegal, SONATEL.
Orange mobile company, which is originally owned by French Telecom, started the negotiations to acquire Airtel almost a year ago.
Airtel has over 1.3 million customers (on the basis of active customers within a 30-day period), with a mobile penetration of around 50% of the population.
It is not clear how much the deal is worth, with both Orange and Airtel refusing to comment about this when contacted by Politico.
However, a $ 3.5 million cheque was paid yesterday to NATCOM as license fee and other necessary payments.
Orange’s acquisition of Airtel is part of a bigger plan to expand its influence in African countries. In April it completed the acquisition of Liberia’s second largest mobile operator, Cellcom. Orange is now present in 21 African countries, including in Guinea.
Airtel entered the Sierra Leone telecoms industry in 2010 after buying assets from Zain Telecom which had earlier bought over Celtel.
Even though the recent sale of Airtel has raised some eyebrows among consumers, the Deputy Director of NATCOM told Politico that “the sale has been based on a business decision rather than other factors that people may suggest.”
Mobile phone users in the country have repeatedly expressed frustration over the “poor service” from operators. Early this year, Airtel was fined $1.2 million by the telecoms regulator owing to poor service.
However, NATCOM Chairman, Momoh Konte expressed optimism about the future operations of Orange.
“We expect a better quality of service,” Konte told Politico.
He reminded Orange about what was expected of them as they take over operations from Airtel.
“We want to see the implementation of the local content policy and we hope you embark on your expansion plans before the end of 2016.”
Orange has gone on to start operations since Tuesday. However, the Airtel brand will remain for a while. Many Airtel and now Orange subscribers are eager to know what difference the deal will make to them.
“All we want to know is whether this will improve data speed and telephone quality, bearing in mind also that the cost is too expensive especially on data” Ibrahim Jalloh, a subscriber, told Politico.
An official at NATCOM, Victor Findlay said Airtel did not owe them any money. “License from the company has already been withdrawn and a fresh license has been given to Orange for their operations in the country” he said.
Airtel had various deals in place with businesses, schools, and other causes. It is not clear what this deal means for those, as the company has wrapped up operations in the country.
| Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with sales of 40 billion Euros in 2015 and 155,000 employees worldwide at 31 March 2016, according a statement from the company.
It is present in 28 countries with a total customer base of 252 million subscribers among them 191 million mobile customers and 18 million fixed broadband customers. It is the premier sponsor of the African Cup of Nations football tournament. |
© Politico 20/07/16
