Sierratel Management Contract

active

July 2012, Sierra Leone’s National Commission for Privatisation signed a three-year management contract with Management and Development International Co. (MDIC) of Beirut to run the state-owned telecommunications company, Sierratel. Sierratel has a monopoly over landlines in the West African nation but the market is severely underdeveloped, with a household penetration of only around 2%. Sierratel also provides mobile-phone and internet services but it is struggling to compete with the three main players, Africell, Airtel and Comium. Sierra Leone was a growth market. By 2012, mobile cellular subscriptions had grown to 2.21 million or 36.97 per 100 inhabitants. Next door in Liberia, a country with lower per capita GDP and higher poverty levels, there were 58.39 mobile-cellular subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in 2012. Financial details of the arrangement were not publicly available.