A year ago, we had published here that Etisalat was reported to be in talks to acquire the 3G license that was awarded to Alheri Engineering back in 2007.

Good news to all Etisalat subscribers – your network now has the coveted 3G license in its kitty and hopefully you should be enjoying broadband speeds shortly.

From a Vanguard news item:

EMTS, Etisalat Nigeria, announced the agreed purchase of Alheri Mobile Services Limited, a fully owned subsidiary of the Dangote Group in Lagos. Alheri Mobile is a holder of a 3G licence for Nigeria . Management sources said that the acquisition will put Etisalat Nigeria in the position of having immediate access to and full use of a 3G licence in line with the other three GSM operators in Nigeria.

CEO of Etisalat Nigeria, Steven E. Evans, said, “we are delighted to acquire the 3G licence, which is an essential element of our plans for further developing the market for mobile broadband in Nigeria.
We have placed a strong emphasis on offering data services to all our customers from launch through enabling edge on all our cell sites throughout Nigeria . Now with 3G, we can further develop our data and mobile broadband portfolio and offer our customers even higher levels of service. There is pent-up demand in Nigeria for broadband and we intend to be leaders in satisfying it.”

Here’s to more competition for the other GSM operators already running 3G networks, and in particular Airtel whose 3G coverage has been very limited, to say the least.

Full news item: In two years of operation, Etisalat Nigeria acquires 3G Licence

Thanks to Keweno for the tip-off.

In 2007, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) issued 3G licences to four operators – MTN, Glo, Zain, and little-known Alheri. Since the issuance of the licenses, the other three operators have deployed and now offer 3G-based services to millions of subscribers across the country.

But not Alheri. Till date, the Dangote-owned company has nothing to show by way of deploying 3G services. However, Technology Times reports that Etisalat, the fourth GSM operator, is in talks with Alheri to buy the dormant 3G license.

If this pulls through, Etisalat will join the league of GSM networks offering 3G services, and the playing field become a little more level. Etisalat Nigeria currently deploys EDGE as a platform for delivering near-3G speeds. However, a 3G license will allow the youngest GSM operator to deploy HSDPA (3.5G) and HSUPA, delivering true broadband speeds to its fast-growing subscriber base.

Source