Starcomms plans $400 million investment for CDMA network (Nigeria)Starcomms, Nigerian CDMA operator, has announced plans to spend at least US$400 million over the next year to expand its network.
The company has set itself a target of reaching 2.5 million subscribers by the end of this year, rising to 5 million by the end of next year and a ten fold jump to 50 million by 2011.
Starcomms says that it expects to start dividend payments to its shareholders in 2010, once it has completed the current phase of network expansion. The network is currently available in 14 major Nigerian cities namely Lagos, Ibadan, Kano, Maiduguri, Port Harcourt, Onitsha, Aba, Asaba, Kaduna, Benin and Zaria while preparations are in progress to put more cities on air this year
The company is thought to have ended the first quarter with some 460,000 subscribers, although that is understood to have jumped sharply to 1.6 million at the end of June, according to statements from the company’s CEO.
