|
|
Angolan Operator Plans $1.7 Billion Spending Plan Over 4 Years
Angolan mobile network operator, Unitel says that it will spend around US$1.7 billion over the next four years upgrading its infrastructure and expanding the mobile network. The government approved the increased capital spending last month.
Earlier this year, Ericsson signed a three-year contract for network performance consulting and continued expansion of Unitel's GSM/WCDMA network.
Henrique da Silva, Unitel's investment director, told Bloomberg News that Unitel's network now covers 138 of the country's 168 municipalities and it expects to reach all of them by 2012. Unitel will also be involved in a project to build the country's first satellite by 2011, he added.
A recent report from Frost&Sullivan expected that revenues in the Angolan mobile communications market would triple by 2015. Angola is expected to license a third operator in 2010.
The company is owned by Portugal Telecom, Angolan state-owned oil company Sonangol and local firms Geni and Vidatel, each hold 25 percent of Unitel.
On the web: Mobile World - Unitel - Bloomberg News
Posted to the site on 17th July 2009