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The African Renaissance moved a step forward during December 2001 with the launch of Vodacom Congo (DRC) s.p.r.l. This followed the ratification of a joint venture agreement between Congolese Wireless Networks (CWN) and Vodacom International Holdings (Pty) Ltd by the Vodacom Group (Pty) Ltd board. CWN operates a GSM network in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with some 22 000 customers and has 18 years remaining of its 20 year license. The DRC has always been of particular interest to Vodacom International primarily because there are only 100 000 phones for more than 60 million people. Challenges there may be, but a teledensity of about 1.6 telephones per 1 000 people strongly suggests that opportunities abound for GSM operators in Africa's third biggest country. The agreement was signed by Mr Mthembu, Managing Director of Vodacom International Holdings (Pty) Ltd and Deputy Group CEO of Vodacom Group (Pty) Ltd, and Mr Alieu Conteh, Chairman and CEO of CWN. Vodacom will have a 51% stake in the joint venture while CWN will have a 49% stake. Mr Mthembu will occupy the chairman's position and Mr Alioume Dieng will become CEO of the new consortium. Vodacom International believes that the total potential market for cellular stands at 5% of the DRC's 60 million inhabitants and the company is confident that its new joint venture will capture a significant market share. Existing GSM cellular players in the DRC besides CWN are Sait with 30 000 customers and Celtel with 60 000 customers. There is also an analogue network called Starcell with approximately 20 000 customers. Between them, the incumbents primarily cover Kinshasa, Lubumbashi and the mining area of Mbuji Mayi. For More Information Contact: |
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