Celtel Nigeria gives $70 mln GSM/EDGE contract to Motorola

Motorola, Inc. announced that it has received orders valued at $70 mln from Celtel Nigeria, part of Zain Group, to further expand and enhance the operator’s GSM coverage in the southern part of Nigeria.

Motorola will deploy its latest Motorola Reach GSM solutions, including EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) capability for mobile data, and will provide comprehensive network expansion planning, integration, support and optimization services to Celtel as it extends network coverage to a growing subscriber base in this densely populated and strategically important oil-producing region.

These orders follow other valued at $50 mln for a GSM turnkey expansion announced earlier this year by the two companies which enabled Celtel to increase its subscriber capacity and extend its coverage into new areas.

Formerly known as Vmobile Nigeria, Celtel Nigeria was established in 2000 by a group of institutional and private investors as well as three state governments. The company made history on August 5, 2001 by becoming the first telecoms operator to launch commercial GSM services in Nigeria. In May 2006 Celtel acquired a majority stake in the company and re-branded the company to Celtel in September. Celtel in Nigeria is now an important part of Celtel’s pan-African operations spanning 14 countries and serving more than 15 mln customers.

Celtel is fully owned by the Zain Group (formerly MTC), a leading provider of mobile telecoms in the Middle East and Africa.  The Zain brand is wholly owned by Mobile Telecommunications Company KSC and is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange. The Group operates as Zain in Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain and Sudan and will start operations in Saudi Arabia early in 2008. Zain also operates telecommunications networks in Lebanon and Iraq. The company’s market capitalisation at November 1, 2007 exceeded US$ 28 bln.