Nitel sees recovery with eyes on N12m profits

By Melvin Awolowo & Enddie Ugbosy

Sick Nitel may be on its way to recovery. Baring any hiccups the Nigerian public telco hopes to make about
$12.5 million (about N18 billion) in a year from its
250,000 lines Lagos expansion project expected to be completed last quarter of this year.

The Lagos expansion work is part of a new rollout
blueprint by Pentascope, its Dutch managers, to
rejuvenate the telco and put it ahead of its younger
and more virile revile in the Nigeria’s commercial
capital of 15 million people.

Chinese equipment vendor Huawei Nigeria Limited has
been contracted to rollout the new lines.

“Nitel remains on course in its plan for privatisation
sometime this year and it is the intention of our
company to continue to grow its assets, improve its
services and performance,” said Chairman of Nitel’s
board Vincent Maduka in Lagos at a brief ceremony to
commission a new DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division
Multiplexing) fibre optic cable project donated by
Huawei to enhance Nitel’s transmission capacity.

The US$2.7 Million $2.7 Million (DWDM project is
expected to improve voice and data traffic along the
Lagos, Enugu and Port Harcourt route. The route is
Nitel’s most lucrative pipe for transmitting signals
of private telecom operators including GSM network
owners.

 “This is part of a comprehensive plan by our company
to build a transmission backbone for the country,”
said CEO Rein Zwolsman.

Zwolsman has had to come in defense of his team who
have come under scathing criticisms for what critics
alleged is the mismanagement of the company by the
Dutch management contractors. “Nitel is on course,”
Zwolsman told the IT Edge news crew in Lagos.
Managing Director of Huawei John Wang said the project
is the project is strong demonstration of the share
technology experience between the two countries that
would open a fresh window for collaboration
opportunities.
Nigeria’s Minister of Communications Chief Cornelius
Adebayo who was represented by Dr. Sani Sufi, a
director in the ministry and a member of Nitel’s board
described the initiative as a testimonial of the
cordial relationship between the two countries. China,
said the Nigerian minister, was helping to build the
“sort of relationship [Nigeria] needs to expand
telecom services and improve teledensity.” 

According to Wang, Huawei first established physical
presence in Nigeria in 1999 to explore avenue for
business in Nigeria’s upbeat telecom sector. Last
year, the Chinese equipment giant recorded contract
deals in excess of $300 Million in Nigeria.

The company had also reinvested some of its earnings
back into its host-country. For in stance, it
reinvested about seven million dollar to set up the
Huawei Nigeria Training Centre in Abuja with more than
300 engineers from various telcos trained so far.

 More…..

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