Unitel, Movicel and Angola Telecom may soon be joined by a fourth Angolan Unified Global operator.
A public tender has now been announced to assign Angola’s fourth Unified Global operator licence. The licence will cover mobile, fixed line, broadband and TV services.
According to the Angolan telecommunications regulator, Instituto Angolano das Comunicações (INACOM), candidates have until 8 November this year to put forward initial applications for pre-qualification. More detailed technical and financial proposals will need to be submitted by qualified candidates within 60 days. These will be considered by an evaluation committee.
This is a process that many people thought was near completion some months ago. In April it was announced that Angola’s tender for a fourth licensee had been completed when local start-up Telstar Telecomunicacoes won the Unified Global concession. However, the process, which began in November 2017, was not over. The President of Angola, Joao Lourenco, signed an order to relaunch the tender for the country’s fourth mobile network operating licence, following the cancellation of the contest. The result was annulled on the grounds of non-compliance with application procedures.
This tender is being steered by an inter-ministerial working group after Lourenco demanded higher levels of transparency in the relaunched tender. The current Unified Global licensees are Unitel, Movicel and Angola Telecom.
Interested parties can access details of the process, submit applications, request clarifications and submit proposals on the Public Procurement Portal (www.compraspublicas.minfin.gov.ao).
