WINDHOEK – Portugal Telecom, which holds a 34 percent stake as well as a management contract in Namibia’s largest mobile network operator, MTC, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
With Brazil’s Oi, which is Brazil’s largest integrated telecommunications operator. The agreement seals a merger that will create a Luso-Brazilian company with projected synergies with a net worth of 1.8 billion Euros ($2.43 billion).
This is considered exciting news for MTC which is already a strategic partner with Portugal Telecom that is described as one of the best telecommunications operators in the world especially in terms of fibre technologies. “The merger is the natural fulfilment of the industrial alliance established in 2010 between PT and Oi. The combination of PT and Oi will create a leading telecoms operator with operations covering a population of about 260 million people and approximately 100 million subscribers. The merger will consolidate the position of both companies as the leading operator for Portuguese-speaking countries with leadership positions in all markets where it operates. The combined company will aim to achieve significant economies of scale, maximise operational synergies and add value for its shareholders, customers and employees,” announced Portugal Telecom.
The combination of the two businesses is expected enhance the implementation of strategic initiatives already underway, where PT and Oi have been sharing expertise and know-how in areas such as product development, customer care, engineering, operations and IT. The new company will be led by Zeinal Bava, former Chief Executive Officer of PT and current CEO of Oi and PT Portugal.
“MTC will be able to extract benefits from this merger and add value for its customers by extending further its best practice sharing platform, access to leading edge technology, increased economies of scale and by being a partner of one of the top 20 largest telecom players in the world,” enthused Tim Ekandjo, Chief Human Capital & Corporate Affairs Officer of MTC. “Customers all over the world want only the best telecommunications technologies and they want them immediately. MTC’s extended partnership with this new company through its current relationship with Portugal Telecom will strengthen our capability in serving our customers with world class technologies in the shortest possible time, which will be of great benefit to our customers. We have always promised to serve our customers with world-class telecommunications technologies and even though we operate in a developing country there should be no difference in the telecommunications technologies experienced by MTC customers with those experienced by customers in the rest of the world,” said Ekandjo.
“This is also good news for our human capital agenda because through such partnerships we are able to develop our human capacity in the telecommunications industry as our staff will benefit from world-class expertise in terms of potential international exchange exposure and training programmes,” elaborated Ekandjo.
He added: “Our human capital agenda is critical to MTC because they create the strength within us and if we are able to continue developing them from this pool of knowledge from two key international partners, it can only contribute to the country’s capacity in the area of ICT.” This allows aspiring Namibian IT students with an excellent opportunity to expand their horizons in these two critical fields and this opportunity allows us the luxury to create this platform of learning within the Namibian telecommunications industry.”
Portugal Telecom’s international footprint extends to countries like Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Kenya, Sao Tomé and Príncipe, Namibia and Timor.
By Staff Reporter