Celtel Nigeria Selects Motorola for $70 Million GSM/EDGE Expansion
22 Nov 2007 09:00 Africa/Lagos
Celtel Nigeria Selects Motorola for $70 Million GSM/EDGE Expansion
Turnkey agreement includes comprehensive Motorola services to further expand and enhance Celtel network with EDGE capability
CAPETOWN, South Africa, Nov. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
AfricaCom -- Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT) today announced that it has received orders valued at $70 million from Celtel Nigeria, part of Zain Group, to further expand and enhance the operator's GSM coverage in the Southern part of Nigeria.
As part of Celtel's comprehensive network expansion strategy, Motorola will deploy its latest Motorola Reach GSM solutions, including EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) capability for mobile data, and will provide comprehensive network expansion planning, integration, support and optimization services to Celtel as it extends network coverage to a growing subscriber base in this densely populated and strategically important oil- producing region.
"Celtel's aggressive growth strategy, rapid expansion and strong focus on quality make it imperative for us to work with a vendor that can provide us with high performance, reliable GSM solutions and services. Motorola's ability to understand our business needs and to deliver its superior technology and services has been central to Celtel Nigeria's ability to achieve its objectives. We are confident that Motorola will successfully support our growth so that we can continue to deliver quality voice and advanced data services to our new and existing customers," said Adebayo Ligali, CEO, Celtel Nigeria.
These latest orders follow orders valued at $50 million for a GSM turnkey expansion announced earlier this year by the two companies which enabled Celtel to increase its subscriber capacity and extend its coverage into new areas.
"We are delighted to continue working with Celtel and to support their rapid growth with the latest Motorola GSM solutions and services. This network expansion, which is part of Celtel's comprehensive network expansion strategy, will expand and enhance the operator's cellular network with EDGE capability for the rapid provision of advanced data services to its growing customer base. We look forward to continue working with Celtel as it goes from strength to strength," said Ali Amer, vice president sales, Middle East, Africa and Pakistan, Motorola Home & Networks Mobility.
Motorola enjoys a decade-long successful strategic relationship with Zain (formerly MTC Group), which owns Celtel. Motorola has delivered technology solutions and professional services which have effectively supported the growth of Zain properties in the Middle East and Africa.
A portion of revenue on these orders was recognized in previous quarters of 2007.
About Celtel Nigeria
Formerly known as Vmobile Nigeria, the company was established in 2000, by a group of institutional and private investors as well as three state governments. The company made history on August 5, 2001 by becoming the first telecoms operator to launch commercial GSM services in Nigeria. In May 2006 Celtel acquired a majority stake in the company and re-branded the company to Celtel in September. Celtel in Nigeria is now an important part of Celtel's pan-African operations spanning 14 countries and serving more than 15 million customers.
The company is pursuing an aggressive network rollout as well as a quality and customer service upgrade in the quest to realize its vision of 'Making life better', not just for its customers but for all Nigerians. The network, which currently covers over 1200 towns and 11,500 communities across the six geopolitical zones of the country, scored a series of many other "firsts" in the highly competitive Nigerian telecommunications market. www.ng.celtel.com
Celtel is fully owned by Zain Group (formerly MTC), a leading provider of mobile telecommunications in the Middle East and Africa. The Zain brand is wholly owned by Mobile Telecommunications Company KSC and is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (Stock ticker: ZAIN). The Group operates as Zain in Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain and Sudan and will start operations in Saudi Arabia early in 2008. Zain also operates telecommunications networks in Lebanon and Iraq. The company's market capitalisation at November 1, 2007 exceeded US$ 28 billion. For more information please visit www.zain.com.
About Motorola
Motorola is known around the world for innovation and leadership in wireless and broadband communications. Inspired by our vision of seamless mobility, the people of Motorola are committed to helping you connect simply and seamlessly to the people, information and entertainment that you want and need. We do this by designing and delivering "must have" products, "must do" experiences and powerful networks -- along with a full complement of support services. A Fortune 100 company with global presence and impact, Motorola had sales of US $42.8 billion in 2006. For more information about our company, our people and our innovations, please visit www.motorola.com
MOTOROLA and the stylized M Logo are registered in the US Patent & Trademark Office. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners.
Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020415/MOTNOTAGLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Motorola, Inc.
CONTACT: Lamia Jaroudi of Motorola, +9714-308-1356,
Emeka Oparah, Head of PR, Events & Sponsorships of Celtel Nigeria,+234-802-222-1120, oparah.e@ng.celtel.com
Web site: http://www.motorola.com/ http://www.ng.celtel.com/ http://www.zain.com/
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