NATCOM Consortium to buy NITEL/MTEL for $252m

NATCOM consortium has emerged the
preferred bidder for the acquisition of the
assets of the Nigerian Telecommunications
Plc, NITEL, and the Nigerian Mobile
Telecommunications MTEL.
The consortium won the bid after its revised
bid price of $ 252. 251, 000 from the initial $
221 was accepted, having met the reserved
price.
NATCOM's major contender, one of the two
prequalified bidders, NETTAG Consortium was
disqualified for failure to enclose a bid bond
as clearly stipulated in the Request for
Proposal, RFP.
Speaking during the public opening of the
financial bid for the acquisition of the of the
assets of NITEL and MTEL under the guided
liquidation exercise in Abuja yesterday,
Chairman, Technical Committee of the
National Council on Privatisation, NCP, Atedo
Peterside, explained that section 10. 3. 1. of
the RFP provided that each bidder shall
furnish, as part of its proposal a bid bond in
the form of a Bank Guarantee of a Letter of
Credit in the sum of $ 10 million.
The bid bond must be enclosed with the
technical proposal. The Bank Guarantee of
Letter of Credit shall be from a reputable
bank acceptable to BPE and the liquidator
and be valid for 120 days from the deadline
for submission of proposals. Provision must
be made for extension of the term of the bid
bond if the validity period is extended.
He added that section 10.3.2 of the RFP
further specified that 'any technical proposal
not accompanied by the bid bond will be
disqualified'
Peterside stated that after a review of the
checkered history of the privatisation of NITEL
and MTEL, the National Council on
Privatisation, at its meeting of February 27,
2012, approved the privatisation of both
telecom companies through guided
liquidation.
He noted that the strategy was adopted by
the council after due consideration of other
options and in the light of the previous failed
attempts to privatise NITEL and MTEL through
Strategic Core Investor Sale and Negotiated
Sale strategies and the huge liabilities of
creditors to the tune of over N300 billion.
The Director General of Bureau of Public
Enterprises, BPE, Mr. Benjamin Dikki noted
that while the reform and liberalisation of
Nigerian Telecommunications sector has
made tremendous strides since 2000, the
privatisation transactions of NITEL and MTEL
had been unsuccessful.
According to him, there have been four
transactions and one management contract
that have turned out to be disappointing,
expressing hope that this time around, the
procurement of a technically and financially
qualified bidder that will not meet the
deadline for payment of the purchase
consideration but will deploy the required
resources to rehabilitate and grow these
companies to play a significant role in the
Nigerian telecoms sector.
The Minister of Communication Technology,
Dr. Omobola Johnson noted that the
privatisation of the NITEL and MTEL is the last
segment of the wellthought out reform of the
Nigerian Telecommunications sector which
commenced since year 2000.

Posted By David Aniemeka