Evaluation report on Teleology delaying 9mobile sale
The evaluation report on the preferred bidder in the sale of 9mobile, Teleology Limited, is delaying the handover of the telecom company, Daily Trust learnt yesterday.
The report may be made public by end of August, a top government official told our reporter yesterday.
A report Tuesday said the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) was scheming to shift the goalposts and deny Teleology the right to takeover 9mobile.
The report quoted officials of the Nigerian banks owed by the telecommunications firm, 9Mobile, as saying they felt let down and confounded by the undue delay in completing the sale of the firm to the successful bidder.
But the NCC will conclude the process as soon as evaluation report is ready, and all conditions given to Teleology are met, the official who did not want his name mentioned told Daily Trust.
But the NCC’s Executive Vice Chairman, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, had said in an interview that the delay in the conclusion of the sale of 9mobile, and the possible handover of the telecoms company to Teleology Holdings Limited was as a result of the acculturated debts owed by 9mobile which, he said, must be fully paid before the company could be given out.
He told journalists in Abuja that 9mobile was indebted to NCC to the tune of over N15 billion in Annual Operating Levy (AOL) fees and Numbering fees, which he said must be paid according to NCC rule before approval would be given for transfer of ownership and handover.
The NCC boss also revealed that 9mobile had initially written to the commission, demanding for the transfer of the shares of Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services (EMTS), now trading as 9mobile, to United Capital Trustees, the receiver-manager and the legal representative of the 13 local banks that lent money to Etisalat.
He said the commission had told the telecom company that all the outstanding payment conditions must be met before its sale could be approved by the NCC.
9mobile, according to Prof Danbatta, was indebted to the commission to the tune of N12 billion as Annual Operating Level fees for 2016 and 2017; N1 billion for Numbering fees for a period of two years, as well as spectrum fees of N2.3 billion.
He said: “It is a rule in NCC that all outstanding fees must be paid before NCC must grant approval for transfer of equity from one entity to another. We asked them to pay the fees in full or make part payment as a sign of commitment before any approval will be given. 9mobile however paid 50 per cent of the total of the over N15 billion it was owing and NCC wrote an initial letter of ‘No Objection’ for the approval of the transfer of shares of EMTS to United Capital, as requested by 9mobile.”
He said another request from 9mobile, asking NCC to transfer shares from United Capital to Teleology, has not been granted because NCC requested for a clear evidence of the registration of Teleology with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
Prof Danbatta also said NCC had promised to carry out due diligence on Teleology to ascertain its technical competence to buy over 9mobile and that the commission had already set up a technical committee to carry out the due diligence process in order to facilitate the process of the sale of 9mobile.
“As we speak the committee has concluded its findings and the committee accepted documents from Teleology, with a view to finding the technical capability of Teleology and its corporate governance structure,” Danbatta said.
“As soon as they meet the next conditions, we will again transmit the final approval letter of ‘No Rejection’ for transfer of shares from United Capital to Teleology, Danbatta said.
He said before the final approval would be given, the committee must make a strong and convincing case to the NCC board on the outcome of its technical evaluation, to grant approval for the transfer of the operational licence and the spectrum licence of 9mobile from United Capital to Teleology.