The Hindu Business Line : MTNL puts in EoI for Nigerian Telecom

NEW DELHI: Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) has put in an initial bid to buy majority stake in Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd or Nitel and will appoint a consultant to advice on the acquisition.

The state-owned telecom operator has put in an expression of interest for 75 per cent stake in Nitel.

“We will appoint a consultant soon to do the due diligence.. we expect the data room of the company (Nitel) to be opened immediately,'' Anita Soni, MTNL director, finance, told PTI. A senior MTNL official said the consultant will evaluate the rationale of putting in financial bids for Nitel, which has both fixed-line and mobile operations (both GSM & CDMA)... As many 13 other initial bidders are already in the fray including South African MTN, UAE's Etisalat and Telefonica.

The deadline for submitting financial bids is October 2. Nigeria Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) said an evaluation committee has been set up to assess the bids submitted by the 13 companies.

“The consortia that are pre-qualified for the next stage are expected to pay a non-refundable fee of $25,000 for bidding documents and execute the confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement, the Bureau said in a statement. - PTI

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