Teleology Holdings has withdrawn from further participation in the 9mobile project, BusinessDay has learnt.
Teleology Holdings is a special purpose vehicle comprised of telecom industry veterans and led by pioneer chief executive officer of MTN Nigeria, Adrian Wood.
Sources close to the 9mobile organisation told that Teleology Holdings had become increasingly uncomfortable with actions taken outside of the agreed business plan since the November 12, 2018 formal take-over of 9mobile. Instructively, Teleology Holdings has been blocked from concluding a management services contract with the local joint venture,
Teleology Nigeria Limited. The management services contract would have enabled Teleology Holdings and its team of experts to oversee the implementation of the organisation’s elaborate business plans, including funding proposals.
Also, founder of Teleology Holdings Limited, Adrian Wood, is understood to have resigned from the boards of Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services (trading as 9mobile) as well as Teleology Nigeria Limited.
“Fifteen Teleology experts have worked since June 2017 on detailed 9mobile turnaround planning, development strategies and financial restructuring. This included lining up more than US$500 million fresh direct foreign investment from international institutions. 9mobile is an exciting opportunity to build a revolutionary mobile network that could be the pride of Nigeria. Unfortunately, it appears that we will not be able to participate,” Wood said, expressed his disappointment with the development.
“We now must stand down from further work on the 9mobile project,” he added.
Teleology Holdings Ltd will be seeking to exit its shareholding in the local joint venture Teleology Nigeria Limited, which will be required to change its name.
Teleology Holdings’ successful bid for 9mobile may not be unrelated with the quality of its proposed seven-member management team which included Adrian Wood and was approved by the NCC Technical Evaluation Committee, the 13-member bank lending syndicate as well as the acquisition finance provider, Afreximbank.
9mobile, formerly Etisalat Nigeria, is the fourth of Nigeria’s GSM service providers. It began trading as “9mobile” sequel to the financial troubles in which it was embroiled when it defaulted in the servicing of a syndicated loan of $1.2 billion owed a consortium of 13 Nigerian banks. In the aftermath, its erstwhile technical partners, Etisalat, exited the business and requested that the use of the “Etisalat” brand name by the company be discontinued forthwith.
According to data from the telecommunications industry regulator, 9mobile network has been at the receiving end of considerable customer attrition since financial troubles became public in 2017. From more than 22 million customers in its heyday in October 2016, for instance, the 9mobile network had just a little over 15 million active subscribers in November 2018 and has consistently lost customers with each passing month.
Saving the company from a foreclosure together with its implications on job loss, and possibly the stability of the larger telecom industry, necessitated the intervention of the duo of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in what was supposed to be a guided liquidation of the company but which now increasingly appears to be an imbroglio.
This new development may further compound the woes of the struggling 9mobile operation. In a pre-disconnection notice advertised by the NCC in the media on December 18, IHS, the infrastructure services provider which hosts majority of 9mobile’s base stations, was granted permission to disconnect 9mobile and other debtor telecom operators within a 10-day ultimatum, ostensibly on account of 9mobile’s indebtedness. Should this disconnection take place, subscribers on 9mobile’s network would have been effectively shut out completely from the telecommunications network and would be unable to make or receive calls.
“The 9mobile operation is in dire straits and apart from customer attrition, is battling with huge indebtedness to dozens of suppliers. It would be a tragedy if the acquisition by Teleology goes wrong,” a staffer of the company told our correspondent a few months ago. Unfortunately, it would appear that the gentleman’s worst fears may be coming to pass.
Jumoke Akiyode-Lawanson
