The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is expected to sign a license agreement this week with MTS First Mobile to provide wireless analog services in the West African country, Clay Taber, MTS First Mobile’s senior vice president for business development, told GlobalFax.
MTS First Mobile is owned in part by Digital Communications Ltd. (DCL), which is headed by Richmond Aggrey. Mr. Aggrey is originally from Ghana, but has settled in the Atlanta area. He also is vice chairman and CEO of MTS First Mobile, which has its headquarters in Nigeria.
Mobile Telecommunications Service Ltd. (MTS) was founded in 1993 as a joint venture between DCL and Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd. (NITEL) to create the first mobile telephone network in Nigeria. The company’s products included cellular telephone, voice mail, wide area paging and radio services.
The company was separated from NITEL in 1995 by the military government of Gen. Sani Abacha, but it recently reached a licensing agreement with the democratically elected government of President Olusegun Obasanjo.
MTS changed its name to MTS First Mobile to underscore its role as the first operator of wireless services in Nigeria. “We will provide an inexpensive alternative to digital mobile, fixed wireless and hard-wired services currently in place or being built in Nigeria,” Mr. Taber said.
He added that by the end of the year MTS First Mobile expects to have a network capacity of 100,000 subscribers and is to market its services to civil servants, medical professionals, business managers, oil sector workers and others.
With a population of 125 million and an average mobile phone density in African nations of 3.5%, Mr. Taber calculates that the Nigerian mobile phone market will include some 4.35 million users.
Mr. Taber may be reached at (404) 237-7322 or fax (770) 234-4237.