France Telecom Wins Fixed, Mobile and Internet Licence in Niger

France Telecom beat two other rival bidders with an offer of 48 million euro (US$71.3 million) for the licence. According to Reuters, Maroc Telecom also submitted a bid, of some 20 million euro (US$29.7 million), and the third bidder, Universal Niger SA, was disqualified for failing to meet the tender requirements. France Telecom submitted its bid in a consortium that includes Mohamed Rissa, a Nigerien business leader in the internet and telecommunications services sector, and Moctar Thiam, a long-standing investor in Orange Mali.

France Telecom missed out on an opportunity to enter the market in 2001 when the government sold a 51% stake in the fixed-line incumbent Sonitel (Société Nigérienne des Télécommunications) to the Chinese vendor, ZTE (see Niger: 9 November 2001: ZTE Submits Highest Bid in Privatisation of SONITEL). After a previous attempt at privatisation attracted little interest, the government re-launched the tender and ZTE won the stake after outbidding a rival application put forward by France Telecom in a consortium with the Senegalese PTO, Sonatel. The Economics Ministry said that ZTE had bid some 11.8 billion CFA francs (US$16.1 million), nearly twice the bid of the 6.5-billion-CFA-franc offer submitted by France Telecom/Sonatel. As part of the privatisation deal, ZTE also took a 51% stake in Sonitel's mobile operator, SahelCom.

The monopoly of Sonitel, Niger's fixed-line incumbent, expired on 1 January 2005 (see Sub-Saharan Africa: 14 February 2005: Liberalisation Advances Across Sahelian Countries). The government then decided to liberalise the market and, on 21 September 2007, the regulator—the Autorité de Régulation Multisectorielle (ARM)—issued a call for expressions of interest. The closing date for the submission of bids was 20 November. According to the tender, the scope of the licence includes: mobile telecommunications, international voice and data services, local loop and long-distance inter-urban links, pre-paid cards for local, long-distance and international services, and internet services.

Outlook and Implications

The France Telecom group continues to expand its footprint across Africa, and is now present in 12 African countries. In West Africa, it added to its operations in Senegal (Sonatel), Cote d’Ivoire (CI-Telecom) and Mali (Ikatel) with the acquisition of mobile licences in Guinea Bissau in January 2007 (see Guinea Bissau: 19 January 2007: Sonatel Wins Mobile Licence in Guinea-Bissau) and Guinea Conakry in March 2007 (see Guinea: 15 March 2007: Sonatel Acquires Spacetel’s Mobile Licence in Guinea). Last week, a consortium led by France Telecom won the tender for the privatisation of Telkom Kenya, with a bid of some US$390 million (see Kenya: 16 November 2007: France Telecom Consortium Wins 51% Stake in Telkom Kenya). The operator plans to launch mobile services under the Orange brand in both countries.