Zain, 3 others bid to become Rwanda’s third phone operator

Zain Group is among four firms that have submitted bids for Rwanda’s third telecommunication operator’s license.

According to the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency, the four are the only ones — out of 17 that showed interest — to return filled-out bidding documents.

Apart from Zain, there are Sudan’s LarryCom, Luxemburg-based MilliCom and the Egyptian-owned Telecel Globe Ltd, part of Orascom Telecom.

The regulatory agency’s director general, Col Diogene Mudenge, said the next phase in the bidding process will begin when the government sets up a technical evaluation committee.

“The technical and financial evaluations are to be completed by the end of October and the committee’s report is to be approved by the Cabinet in November ,” said Col Mudenge.
“As negotiations with the preferred bidder are also to take place in November, the license will be awarded in December,” he added.

Rwanda currently has two telecom operators — the Libyan-owned Rwandatel and MTN Rwanda. The two received a 5-year duopoly in 2003 to provide fixed and mobile communication.

Government officials said the selection of a third national operator, in line with Rwanda’s decision to further liberalise the telecom market, would come at the expiry of Rwandatel and MTN’s exclusivity period.

Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency also said in the invitation to bidders that the third national operator will be issued both fixed and mobile licenses with a 15 year duration on the same terms and conditions as applicable to the existing duopoly operators.

Zain’s business development director, Dr Andrew Arowojolu, who submitted the company’s bids in Kigali last week, said once Zain receives the operational licence, it will add Rwanda to its borderless One Network.

Zain’s One Network was the world’s first borderless mobile telecommunications operation. It covers 500 million people in 15 countries across East, West and Central Africa and the Middle East.

Dr Arowojolu said the company has already invested $12 billion in Africa and will offer WiMAX, 2.7G, 3G and 3.5G technology to the Rwandan telecom industry as well as laying a fibre optic loop.

Yasmin Al Mosleny of Telecel Globe said the Egyptian-based company has a principal market capitalisation of over $12 billion and had more than 74 million subscribers by the first quarter of 2008.

Orascom Telecom runs mobile operations in six countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia.

For its part, MilliCom has cellular operations in Asia, Latin America and Africa. It currently has cellular operations and licences in 16 countries.

MilliCom’s cellular operations had a combined population under license of approximately 291 million people as at March this year. Its shares are listed on the Nasdaq under the symbol MICC.