MTN Côte d'Ivoire

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Loteny-Telecom was a joint venture between Telecel International (52.5%), Access Telecom, another private partner, and the Ivory Coast government. Telecel International was in turn 80% owned by the Egyptian company Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH). However, in April 2004, OTH completed the sale of its controlling 51.7% in Telecel Loteny to Atlantique Telecom, a subsidiary of Banque Atlantique of Cote d'Ivorie, for US$53.1 million. Loteny Telecom was awarded a license to provide mobile services in Cote d'Ivoire in April 1996 on a first-come-first-serve basis. The company began commercial operations in November 1996 and had invested around US$18.7 million for development of its network. The company obtained a US$4.25 million loan from the African Development Bank in April 1997, as well as a US$3.8 million loan. The estimated investment in the company was US$36.7 million by end 1998. The West African Development Bank approved another loan to Loteny in 2000, amounting to US$5 million. In July 2004, Siemens AG won a 20 million euro order from Ivory Coast's Loteny Telecom to expand its GSM mobile phone network. As of end 2004, Loteny Telecom was a close second in the national market with 831,712 subscribers and competed with France Telecom's Orange. In June 2005, the MTN Group entered into an agreement to acquire a 51% stake in Loteny Telecom. Telecel Côte d’Ivoire was renamed MTN Côte d’Ivoire on 30 December 2005. Since the acquisition, the MTN Group made a sizeable capital expenditure investment of over US$20 million into this operation. The bulk of this investment was spent on network equipment and information technology systems to support anticipated subscriber growth. By end 2005, Loteny Telecom had 1.079 million subscribers. In May 2006, the MTN Group increased its stake in MTN Cote d'Ivoire, previously Loteny Telecom, to 68.34%, through the purchase of a 17.34% stake from Atlantique Telecom for EUR42.75 (US$54.8) million. Capex 2011 based on MTN group annual report: parent capex * subscribers MTN subsidiary / subscribers of total MTN group capex 2012: Wireless Intelligence

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