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Wireless Federation » archive for 'Benin'

Glo launches (Benin)

  • June 5th, 2008
  • 3:08 pm

Benin’s newest wireless licensee Globacom (Glo) is launching GSM services today. President Boni Yayi of Benin Republic is expected to lead a team of dignitaries and other stakeholders to the launch. Globacom is deploying its network across the West African country, covering major cities including Cotonou, Porto Novo, Abomey and Parakou towns, rural villages and communities.

Globacom is Nigeria’s second national operator (SNO), and was awarded licences to provide GSM, fixed voice, data and long-distance telephony services in Nigeria in August 2002, for which it paid USD200 million. The company became the fastest growing mobile operator in the country, signing up a million subscribers in the first nine months of operations, and claimed in excess of twelve million mobile customers by the end of 2007. Globacom is majority owned by Nigerian petrochemical firm Conpetro, which is itself owned by entrepreneur Mike Adenuga. The company is 100%-owned by Nigerian investors.

   

 

 

MTN reinstates wireless service (Benin)

  • September 17th, 2007
  • 3:32 pm

Benin’s telecoms authority has allowed MTN to resume its wireless operations, ending a two-month suspension following a dispute over licence fees, the regulator said at the weekend. ‘The MTN Group has accepted the conditions laid out in the new fees structure,’ said Victor Tokpanou, vice-president of Benin’s ATRPT. MTN was given the green light to resume operations from Saturday. Tokpanou said MTN had agreed to pay the new fee of XOF30 billion (USD64 million) for the ten-year operating licence, as demanded by the Benin authorities. He said the settlement of the dispute followed talks between Benin President Thomas Boni Yayi and President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, as well as with MTN executives.

In mid-July, in a move that cut off nearly a million subscribers, the ATRPT suspended the networks of both MTN and rival Atlantique Telecom, which is controlled by Emirates Telecommunications Corp (Etisalat). The regulator demanded that both sign new contracts because they had changed their names and ownership without permission from the authorities. Atlantique Telecom was allowed to resume its Moov mobile service earlier this month after agreeing to pay the new fee.

   
 

Benin allows MTN to resume mobile phone network (Benin)

  • September 17th, 2007
  • 6:41 am

Benin’s telecommunications authority has allowed South African-listed MTN to resume its mobile phone service in the West African state after a two-month suspension over a contract dispute, the regulator said.

“The MTN Group has accepted the conditions laid out in the new fees structure,” Victor Tokpanou, Vice-President of Benin’s ATRPT telecoms authority said late on Saturday on national television. The authorisation for MTN to restart its mobile service was effective from Saturday.

Tokpanou said MTN, Sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest cellphone operator, had agreed to pay the new 30 billion CFA francs fee for a 10-year operating licence demanded by the Benin authorities. This represented a 500 pct rise over the previous operator fee.
He added the settlement of the contract dispute followed talks between Benin President Thomas Boni Yayi and his South African counterpart Thabo Mbeki, and also with MTN executives.

In mid-July, in a move that cut off nearly 1 million subscribers, ATRPT suspended the networks of both MTN and Atlantique Telecom, which is controlled by Emirates Telecommunications Corp. (Etisalat).

The regulator demanded they sign new contracts because it said both had changed their names and operators in Benin without its permission.

Atlantique Telecom was allowed to resume its Moov mobile service earlier this month after agreeing to pay the new operator fee.

MTN, whose Benin network was previously operated by Spacetel Benin under the Areeba brand, had 514,000 subscribers in Benin in March. Atlantique Telecom’s Moov network, previously part of the Telecel group, has around 450,000.

Benin has around 8 million people.

The country’s other operators Libercom, a subsidiary of state fixed-line company Benin Telecom, and Bell Benin, owned by local businessman Issa Salifou, had accepted the new contracts with the increased licence fees, officials said.

In August, Benin granted a mobile phone service operating permit to neighbouring Nigeria’s second biggest operator Globacom.

   

 

Benin suspends MTN, Atlantique Telecom networks

  • July 16th, 2007
  • 2:23 pm

Telecom regulator of Benin has suspended the networks of two mobile operators late, cutting off nearly 1 million subscribers in a dispute over contracts. The regulator silenced the networks of South Africa-listed MTN and Atlantique Telecom, which is controlled by Emirates Telecommunications. The regulator has suspended the companies’ licenses and threatened to shut down their networks if they did not sign new contracts including a USD 50 million, a 500 percent rise in the operator fee. The new contracts are needed because both networks had changed their names and operators without its permission. The new contracts include a hefty rise in the operator fee after the ATRPT said it planned to increase the fee to CFA 30 billion from 5 billion. The increase would be retroactive, that means each company would pay an additional CFA 25 billion to the state.

   

Benin suspends SA’s mobile network

  • July 12th, 2007
  • 12:10 pm

Benin has suspended two mobile phone operators, including South Africa-based MTN. The West African country’s Telecommunications Authority has issued a statement suspending the operating contracts of MTN and Emirates-based Atlantique Telecom from yesterday.

The authority says both companies have changed their local names without its permission.

It has threatened to silence their networks from Thursday if they do not sign new contracts that include a $50 million, or 500%, increase in the operator fee.

 

 

 

 

   

Cellcos facing closure after regulator demands more cash

  • July 11th, 2007
  • 2:35 pm

AllAfrica.com reports that MTN has been issued with a retrospective 600% increase in licence fees from Benin’s telecoms regulator, the TRA. The news story states that the contracts of MTN and a rival operator, Atlantique Telecom, were suspended on Monday with the TRA claiming that both networks had changed their names without permission. The respective networks are currently still carrying calls, but this will end tomorrow unless they each sign a new licence deal, in which is a clause demanding USD60 million in licence fees. MTN acquired the network in the country with its USD5.5 billion takeover of Investcom. The network traded previously as Areeba Benin and has about 514,000 users, or a 40% market share. Mobile penetration in the country stands at an estimated 19%.