Nigeria to Get a Third GSM Network

Nigeria's third GSM license holder, the state owned land-line monopoly, Nitel is expected to launch its GSM network on October 15th, according to the Communications Minister Haliru Mohammed. The network should be launched with 118,000 lines and ongoing improvements to the land-line network to support interconnections between the three cellular networks should be completed by the beginning of November. The two existing GSM networks, operated by Econet and MTN began services last month, but have been hampered by a lack of land-line capacity at Nitel's facilities. Adding a third GSM network before the land-line capacity has been improved may make matter worse for a few weeks. The government is expected to privatize Nitel by the end of the year."

Posted to the site on 25th September 2001