Mobile Telecommunications Services Limited (MTS)

cancelled

Closed

Mobile Telecommunications Services Limited (MTS) was one of the three companies to receive a national cellular license from Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in 1992. The license was awarded as part of the telecommunications liberalization of Nigeria in the early 1990s. MTS was a joint venture between state-owned Nitel (45%) and Atlanta-based Digital Communication Limited (55%). MTS was the only company that succeeded in establishing a mobile network. The license of Telecel International was revoked due to its failure to meeting the standards of NCC. Other cellular contenders were unable to raise enough capital from foreign investors. MTS installed its cellular network in Abuja in 1992, and two years later the network was launched in Lagos. The company had 3,000 cellular phone subscribers by 1995. However, the company shut down business in 1996, a few months after national operator Nitel unilaterally disconnected MTS service due to claims that the latter owed it US$3.4 million. By mid-1998, M-Tel was a wholly-owned subsidiary of state-owned Nitel and was the only cellular operator in Nigeria. However, competition entered the market in 2001. MTS was relicensed in 2002 as a private operator under different ownership. MTS was relicensed in 2002. See project 3485.

World Bank Group

Project

Telecommunications, Manufacturing (Industrial), Government