9mobile seeks concessions to boost revenues ahead of sale

9mobile has approached the Nigerian Telecommunication Commission for concessions on spectrum and foreign exchange access to beef up its revenues preparatory to finding viable investors. 9mobile’s CEO Boye Olusanya asked the Nigerian Communications Commission to revisit its floor price on data, interconnect rates and national roaming fees in order to help the 9mobile meet its obligations, the NCC said, citing a meeting with 9mobile.

“We want to see a viable and thriving 9mobile,” NCC’s Executive Vice Chairman Umar Garba Danbatta said, adding that he wanted to safeguard investors, subscribers and employees.
Danbatta said in a statement that more than $2 billion foreign direct investment by Mubadala of UAE was at stake, while 20 million subscribers and over 2,000 workers would have been affected if the NCC had not intervened.

It will be recalled that the troubled service provider said through the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele it had appointed advisers to find new investors. Citigroup and Standard Bank have been appointed to manage a sale process and three major investors have shown interest.
9mobile has a 14 per cent share of Nigeria’s highly competitive mobile telecoms market. MTN is the market leader with 47 per cent, Globacom has 20 per cent and Airtel’s has 19 per cent.

Etisalat Nigeria was the biggest foreign-owned company affected by dollar shortages in the country due to lower oil prices and a recession, making it difficult for the company to make repayments to lenders and suppliers.
It took out a $1.2 billion loan in 2013 from 13 local lenders to refinance existing debt and expand its network but it struggled to repay four years later. Central bank governor Emefiele said 9mobile’s revenue was stable and it had made N16 billion ($52.5 million) in June, adding that the company had not lost subscribers due to its debt problems. 9mobile’s Olusanya has said he is focused on getting the company back on track to make a profit, while working on plans to raise new capital. He also said the company was open to new investors.