Virgin Mobile, Vodacom, others bidding for 9Mobile

Following the exit of Etisalat International from Nigeria, 9Mobile has reportedly gotten the attention of investors from across the world including UK’s Virgin Mobile, South Africa’s Vodacom, and Nigeria’s BUA Group, according to ThisDay report.

Already, the consortium of banks has appointed advisers, which include Standard Bank of South Africa and Citibank of New York to receive and evaluate bids. According to the report, every bid will be reviewed before bringing them to the board of new directors.

Virgin Mobile which is part of the Virgin Group founded by Richard Branson is reportedly submitting a bid that is being promoted by a star-studded team of executives with many years of experience in the telecoms sector in Africa as well as other parts of the world.

“Several former top executives of MTN Nigeria are said to be behind this bid, which has offered to buy over Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services (EMTS), trading as 9Mobile, and absorb the balance of the $1.2 billion debt, which it owes the 13 financial institutions. It is also said to have outlined a repayment plan for this debt,” ThisDay reported.

According to the report, Virgin Mobile’s plan is not just about repaying the debt owed by 9Mobile. It has also carefully outlined a financing strategy and a very ambitious network development strategy in which every cell-site will either be a third generation (3G) or a fourth generation (4G/LTE) cell site. Currently, majority of cell sites in Nigeria operated by the country’s pre-existing mobile networks, are second generation (2G) with a sprinkling of 3G sites.