Teleology Pulls Out of 9mobile

Barely, two months after Teleology Holdings received approval to
take over the operations of 9mobile as the preferred bidder,
Teleology Holdings has expressed its dissatisfaction with the
business relationship with its local partner, 9mobile Nigeria, and
has decided to pull out from the 9mobile project, THISDAY
report.

Investigation has further revealed that Teleology Holdings
Limited will be seeking to exit its shareholding in the local joint
venture, Teleology Nigeria Limited, which will be required to
change its name.

This development, it was learnt, will put the $50 million
initial deposit paid for the acquisition of 9mobile by Teleology
Holdings, in jeopardy.
Sources close to the 9mobile told THISDAY that Teleology Holdings
had become increasingly uncomfortable with actions taken outside of
the agreed business plan, since the November 12, 2018 formal
take-over of 9mobile.

According to the source, Teleology Holdings has been blocked
from concluding a management services contract with the local joint
venture, Teleology Nigeria Limited.
The management services contract would have enabled Teleology
Holdings and its team of experts oversees the implementation of the
organisation’s elaborate business plans, including funding
proposals.

THISDAY further gathered that following this ugly development,
the Founder of Teleology Holdings Limited, Mr. Adrian Wood, who is
the pioneer CEO of MTN Nigeria, has resigned from the boards of
Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services, which is trading as
9mobile, as well as Teleology Nigeria Limited.
Wood has also in a statement expressed his disappointment about
situation in 9mobile.

“Fifteen Teleology experts have worked since June 2017 on
detailed 9mobile turnaround planning, development strategies and
financial restructuring. This included lining up more than $500
million fresh direct foreign investment from international
institutions.
9mobile is an exciting opportunity to build a revolutionary mobile
network that could be the pride of Nigeria, unfortunately it
appears that we will not be able to participate,” Wood said.

Wood added that: “We now must stand down from further work on
the 9mobile project.”
The development may further compound the woes of the struggling
9mobile operation. In a pre-disconnection notice advertised by the
Nigerian Communications Commission in the media on December 18,
IHS, the infrastructure services provider, which hosts majority of
9mobile’s base stations, was granted permission to disconnect
9mobile and other debtor telecom operators within a 10-day
ultimatum, ostensibly on account of 9mobile’s indebtedness.

THISDAY gathered that should this disconnection take place,
subscribers on 9mobile’s network would have been effectively shut
out completely from the telecommunications network and would be
unable to make or receive calls. “The 9mobile operation is in dire
straits and apart from customer attrition, is battling with huge
indebtedness to dozens of suppliers. It would be a tragedy if the
acquisition by Teleology goes wrong,” said a staffer of the
company.

Teleology Holdings had on November 12 last year, announced the
constitution of a new Board of Directors for 9mobile, following the
approval it received to officially take over the operations of
9mobile, coupled with the successful completion of the tenure of
the former Board appointed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and
in fulfillment of the consequential transfer of final ownership to
the new investors.

The seven-man Board of Directors included Nasiru Ado Bayero as
Chairman; Asega Aliga as Non Executive Director; Adrian Wood as Non
Executive Director; Mohammed Edewor as Non Executive Director;
Winston Ndubueze Udeh as Non Executive Director; Abdulrahman Ado as
Executive Director and Stephane Beuvelet, as Acting Managing
Director.

9mobile, formerly Etisalat Nigeria, is the fourth of Nigeria’s
GSM service providers.

It began trading as “9mobile” in the sequel to the financial
troubles in which it was embroiled, when it defaulted in the
servicing of a syndicated loan of $1.2 billion owed a consortium of
13 Nigerian banks. In the aftermath, its erstwhile technical
partners, Etisalat exited the business and requested that the use
of the “Etisalat” brand name by the company be discontinued
forthwith.
The 9mobile network, has been at the receiving end of considerable
customer attrition since financial troubles became public in
2017.

From more than 22 million customers on its network in October
2016 for instance, the 9mobile network had just a little over 15
million active subscribers as at November 2018.