China Unicom buys Nigerian operator in dispute

C114 Beijing Time March 8 Noon News (SHANGMU) According to foreign media reports, the new era communications company failed to pay the contract in accordance with the stipulated deadline, the Nigerian telecommunications Company (NITEL) of the privatization transaction has been in trouble.　　The new era is rumored to be composed of China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited and Dubai Minerva, Nigeria Gicell Wireless, a Chinese unicom group listed company. February 16, 2010, the Nigerian Federal Public Enterprise Administration (according of ENTERPRISES,BPE) announced that in the privatization of Nigeria Telecom (75% shares), the new era communications company won the bid for 2.5 billion dollars, Omen International is the candidate for a 956 million dollar price.　　Then, on October 13, President Goodluck Goodluck Jonathan approved the deal. The new era needs to pay 750 million USD for the bid bond within 10 days of winning the bid and pay the remaining 1.75 billion dollars within 60 days.　　However, it has not been able to pay the contract in accordance with the stipulated deadline, the transaction has been delayed. At the same time, the deal itself has been plagued by controversy, particularly over the 2.5 billion-dollar bid. Nigeria's telecoms, which has been a monopoly operator, has been underperforming, and the government has been trying to sell it since 2001. In 2006, the Transcorp Group acquired a 75% stake in the privatization of Nigeria Telecom, which traded at $750 million worth.　　But after a few years of neglect, the government withdrew its shares earlier in 2009, after ignoring the issue of unpaid staff salaries. China Unicom has repeatedly denied that participating groups and listed companies are involved in any acquisitions, but it also said in a public announcement that China Unicom (Europe) operations Limited had contacts with potential bidders who were to bid for Nigeria's telecoms stake and intended to provide the technical services and operations management involved in the aforementioned "proposed privatization",　　and to explore the possibility of investing in Nigerian telecoms shares, with certain conditions in place. At present, the government faces four options: one is to give new era communications companies more time to finance and pay the transaction price. The second is to cancel the new Era transaction qualification, invite the candidate winning bidder Omen International to carry on the negotiation. The third is to invite all successful bidders except the new era to negotiate and complete the transaction in accordance with the voluntary principles of both parties.　　The other is to cancel the whole transaction and bid again. The Public enterprise administration says it has made recommendations to the privatisation Executive committee and is awaiting instructions from the Executive Chairman, Vice President Namadi Sambo (Namadi Sambo).