In an attempt to revitalize the country’s telecom market, Nigeria has asked the second-highest bidder for Nitel to revalidate it’s rejected offer. This comes almost a month after the top bidder for the decrepit state-run telecom company was rejected due to non-payment of the deposit, the deadline for which was extended from Nov 5 2010 until Nigeria’s Bureau of Public Enterprises finally ran out of patience last month.
Chukwuma Nwokoh, spokesman for Nigeria’s Bureau of Public Enterprises, said Monday that Omen International Ltd. could renew its $956.9 million bid if it was still interested.
Omen lost a Feb. 2010 bid for the telecoms company to New Generation Consortium, which offered $2.5 billion. Omen’s bid is just over a third of the value of New Generation’s offer. Nigeria canceled its deal with the top bidder last month after it failed to pay a $750 million down payment.
Nitel, in principle, provides landline telephone service in Africa’s most populous nation but its lines rarely work and Nigerians have become largely reliant on mobile phones.
South African telecom expert Ernie Evans said that he expects the company to jump on the offer, adding that “this deal could be a masterful move for any company able to come in and jumpstart what has been a really poor television network for a number of years. The potential is great.”
By Angela Meadon
