Angola’s state-owned fixed provider Angola Telecom is scrapping its mobile partnership with Angorascom Telecomunicacoes.
In November 2019, Angorascom – a startup with the backing of Egypt’s Orascom Investment Holding – received presidential permission for a ‘sub-concession’ that allowed it to deliver mobile services using AT’s Unified Licence.
The partnership was aimed at injecting competition into Angola’s mobile market - breaking the duopoly of Unitel and Movicel – with the partners aiming to launch mobile services by February 2021, according to TeleGeography.
However, news agency Lusa has now reported AT chairman Adilson dos Santos as saying that Angola Telecom “will no longer follow up on the authorisation request for the sub-concession of the mobile service”, citing “legal and technical” failures and broader changes to Angola’s economy.
In the same press conference dos Santos announced a new partnership, saying that AT would now share infrastructure with Africell, which was recently confirmed as Angola’s fourth recipient of a Unified Global Licence. AT noted that the partnership would avoid the construction of any redundant duplicate tower and fibre assets.
“We are very committed to being an infrastructure sharing company and if it depends on Angola Telecom, Africell will not take long to enter the market, because our infrastructure will be available from a commercial point of view”, said dos Santos.
