Africell, a US-owned mobile network operator, becomes the first foreign-owned operator licensed to provide mobile services in oil-rich Angola, vows to shake the “overly cosy” market.
In February, the management of Africell reached an agreement with the Angolan government to begin operation in the mobile services market alongside other existing companies.
Angola’s telecommunications market was monopolised by Unitel, a private operator led by the country’s first daughter Isabel dos Santos who later resigned from the company’s board of directors in August 2020.
President Joao Lourenco later launched a bid to recover Angola from 37 years of monopoly and nepotism under his predecessor, Jose Eduardo dos Santos.
According to Africell non-executive director Peter Pham, “Transforming the mobile market of Angola will require bringing in an outsider that shakes up a bit of the overly cosy business environment”
Opening the tender to international players will help break “some of the monopolistic tendencies” that had held the market during the regime of the previous administration.
For Africell, moving into Angola is a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to get into a market that has been closed for so long,” he said.
Africell currently operates telecommunications networks in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, the Gambia and Uganda.
