Onatel

active

In December 2006 the government of Burkina Faso sold 51% of its shares in L'office National des Telecommunications (Onatel) to foreign telecom operator Maroc Telecom. Onatel was the monopoly provider of fixed line service in the country, with some 107,000 subscribers (0.7% penetration rate). The company also offered mobile service, with some 463,000 customers. In the mobile market Onatel competed with Telecel Faso (id 2784) and Celtel Burkina Faso (id 2785). Maroc Telecom won an open international tender for the 51% stake with a bid of $290 million. Six other bidders made offers: Detecon (Germany), Essat Teleholding (India), France Telecom (France), Monaco Telecom (Monaco), Saudi Telecom (Saudi Arabia) and Sistema/MTS (Russia). In December 2006 Onatel’s remaining shareholders were: The Burkina Faso government (23%), staff (6%) and others (20%). Maroc Telecom (id 2675) had some 12 million subscribers in Morocco at the end of 2006. The company was 51% owned by French operator Vivendi. In March 2009, it was announced that Burkina Faso had raised 29 billion CFA francs (US$59.6 million) from the sale of 20 percent of ONATEL through the initial public offering. Shares in ONATEL, which is 51 percent owned by Maroc Telecom , were expected to be listed on the West Africa franc zone regional BRVM bourse based in Ivory Coast. 2007 Capex: Estimate based on Maroc Telecom Annual report: Capex local firm = Capex Mobile Total*(Local Mobile Connections/Total Mobile Connections) + Capex Fixed Total*(Local Fixed Connections/Total Fixed Connections)