Maybe it was an April Fool's joke. On April 1st Vodacom, a large South African telecoms firm, proudly announced a five-year deal to manage Econet Wireless Nigeria, the west African country's second-largest mobile-network operator. After nine months of due diligence, a "very senior team" would start work in Nigeria. Vodacom talked of spending $200m to revamp operations. Its experience in other African markets (Congo, Tanzania, Mozambique, Lesotho) would be brought to bear in the most populous, lucrative and fastest-growing telecoms market in Africa. Nigeria has been hailed as an example of how telecoms liberalisation can underpin economic development. Its government was said to be delighted at the prospect of more competition and investment.
展开▼
