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Hits ‘plans expansion in Africa’
24 January 2012
CEO of Kuwait’s Hits Telecom considers acquisition in plans to improve footprint in Liberia and Tanzania
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Africa
Hits Telecom
Liberia
Tanzania
Congo
Equatorial Guinea
Tanzania
Kuwait’s Hits Telecom is planning to expand its services in Liberia and Tanzania and will invest around $100 million and $40 million in Tanzania and Liberia, respectively, the company’s CEO Par Eriksson told Reuters.
Eriksson said: “Our licences are in central Africa from the east coast to the west coast. We are extending our footprint in that region to be more competitive. We hope we will do an acquisition this year, but that will not be a licence, it will be an existing operator.”
The operator, which has mobile licences in Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Tanzania and Liberia, is in tower-sharing discussions with the countries’ mobile operators. Eriksson said: “Liberia is a small number, something like 25 sites, but in Tanzania it will be hundreds of sites.”
Hits will have “96 or 97 percent coverage of the population” of Equatorial Guinea, Eriksson told Reuters, adding that the company has ensured sufficient funding for two new operations in Liberia and Tanzania.
A court case with Huawei has delayed a rollout in Tanzania. Huawei has a contract to help build a Hits network in Tanzania, Reuters reported. Eriksson said: “We will continue to be in court with them for a while. We won the first case. Huawei came back and sued us for one third or less of the amount. We lost more or less half a year in 2011 because of this.”
Hits’ mobile services rollout in Congo is expected to occur later, Eriksson stated, adding that the company will “not complete that network until 2013.” GTB
Further reading from Global Telecoms Business:
Vodacom 'close to settling' Congo dispute 19 Jan 2012
Hits Telecom 'to close two buyouts' in 2012 21 Dec 2011
France Telecom to buy Congo Chine Télécom 21 Oct 2011