Telecoms firm, Etisalat International,
has just threw a blow at the telecommunciation sector in Nigeria after
announcing its exit from the Nigerian market yesterday, July 10.
Etisalat owes a consortium of banks some money and have been unable
to pay back. The firm is expected to be phased out in three weeks
according to reports.
Etisalat International’s Chief Executive Officer, Hatem Dowidar,
revealed that the exit process became inevitable since the company could
not convert some of its dollar debts to naira.
“The Nigerian lenders may try to continue to operate the company
until they find a buyer; or they may merge the company with the existing
players in Nigeria”, Dowidar noted.
He said he isn’t sure what the lenders would do.
“The brand agreement
in either of these two scenarios won’t be a long-term thing, so we take
out the brand; in the long term, Etisalat won’t be in Nigeria.”“There’s a new board and we are not part of that company. We have
sent our termination letter for the management agreement,” Dowidar said
of the ongoing discussions with Etisalat Nigeria.
Recall, the former chairman Hakeem Bello-Osagie resigned last week due to its debt crisis rocking the fourth largest mobile in Nigeria.
