China Unicom Bids $2.5B for 75% of NITEL
BEIJING (
) --
China Unicom
(CHU) - Get Report
and partners could buy 75% of
Nigerian Telecommunications
for $2.5 billion.
New Generation Telecom, which besides China Unicom also includes
Minerva Group
and
GiCell Wireless
, was selected as the preferred bidder for Nigerian Telecommunications, the state-owned phone company known as NITEL, said an official at the National Council on Privatization,
Bloomberg
reports.
China Unicom's group outbid a $956 million offer from
Omen International
and four shortlisted suitors including
MTN Group
, Africa's biggest phone company,
Bloomberg
notes.
The bidding is subject to final approval by the National Council on Privatization, the
Wall Street Journal
reports.
More than half of Nigerians still don't have mobile phones,
Bloomberg
reports, putting China Unicom, China's second-largest mobile phone company, in a good position enter the fastest-growing phone market in Africa.
-- Written by Joseph Woelfel in New York.
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