New mobile telecoms operator launches next week

15.01.2008

Cape Verde as of next week will have a second mobile phone operator, T+, which will compete with the current monopoly of Cabo Verde Telecom.

The chairman of the board of the company, Marco Bento, said Thursday in Praia that T+ would offer "competitive prices" and would be an alternative for mobile communications.

Initially the new mobile network will cover only the Island of Santiago but, by the second half of 2008, expects to cover the whole of Cape Verde.

T+ has as its partners Teylium Telecom (with a 70 percent stake), BNP Paribas, Banco Interatlantico, Ericsson and the World Bank.

The operator, which was licensed in 2006 by the National Communications Agency (ANC) also has as shareholders Alexander group Telecommunications, based in New York (15 percent) and Marco Bento, the company's founder (15 percent).

T+ plans to invest US$50 million over the next three years, including US$15 million for 2007-2008 and plans to create 100 direct jobs and 500 indirect jobs.

source: Macahub