Mobile Telecommunications (Namibia)

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Mobile Telecommunications (Namibia) (MTC) became Namibia's only mobile phone operator in 1995 when it recieved a license that included a five year exclusivity period. MTC was a joint venture between the state-owned Namibia Post and Telecom Holdings (NPTH) (51%) and Swedish investors Telia International (26%) and Sewdfund International (23%). By 2003, the ownership was NPTH (51%), Overseas Telecom AB (26%) and Swedfund International AB (23%). In June of 2004, NPTH concluded a purchase transaction for the 49% stake held by the two Swedish companies, therefore increasing the government's holdings to 100%. In addition to the N$388 million (US$60.3 million) paid for their combined stake, a further maximum amount of N$110 million was to be paid to the exiting investors over the following three years, depending on the financial performance of MTC. NPTH announced that it had no intention of keeping the acquired shares in the long term and intended to dispose of 15% of the shares within the Namibian market and sell 34% of the issued share capital of MTC to a strategic partner at a later stage. MTC's network covered the areas of highest population density, including the corridor from the ports of Walvis Bay and Swakopmund to Windhoek, and on to Gobabis. MTC, which had expanded its total customer base to about 300,000 at the time of the government take over, including post-paid and pre-paid customers, had invested approximately N$600 million (US$90 million) in the network infrastructure since its launch. By 2011, Portugal Telecom owned 34% of MTC's operations. Portugal Telecom Completes Acquisition of 34% Stake in MTC in Namibia Paul Hamilton 278 words 27 July 2006 Global Insight Daily Analysis English Copyright 2006, Global Insight Limited. All Rights Reserved. Portugal Telecom (PT) has completed the acquisition of 34% stake in Mobile Telecommunications Ltd (MTC) from state-owned Namibia Post & Telecom Holdings Ltd (NPTH), after signing the share sale and shareholders' agreement in Windhoek, Namibia's capital, on 25 July. From an original field of five applicants, Portugal Telecom and South African operator MTN were both short-listed, and after months of conducting a bid and undergoing the evaluation process PT was announced as the winner of the stake (see Namibia: 24 March 2006: ). The chairman of the NPTH board, Steve Motinga, said that "our Portuguese partners acquired the 8,500,000 ordinary shares available for N$120 per share, translating into N$1.02 billion (US$145.8 million)," according to source: Agence France-Presse newswire. PT will appoint the managing director of MTC, one non-executive board member, and a general manager. MTC currently has 507,000 subscribers according to Namibian media, up from 455,000 subscribers by February 2006.Significance: This represents a key acquisition for Portugal Telecom, which is currently expanding its portfolio in Africa and looking for expansion opportunities outside its traditional Lusophone African markets. Meanwhile, PT's other African operations had some 3.6 million mobile subscribers by June 2005, thus increasing its gross subscriber base in the region to well over 4.0 million. During May the Namibian government also awarded the country’s second cellular licence to Powercom, a consortium comprised of state-owned electricity utility NamPower and the Norwegian operator Telenor (see Namibia: 24 May 2006: ). Powercom is expected to launch services in January 2007. Capex 2011 based on PT'sannual report: parent capex * subscribers PT country subsidiary / subscribers of total PT group (93m) Ibid 2012: world capex 1.688bn, 100.4m users Capex 2013: Wireless Intelligence (extrapolated Q4) Capex 2014 not available yet