A joint venture between South Korea’s SK Telecom and Middle Eastern firm CKG Group has been linked with an XOF100 billion (USD171 million) bid for a fourth Senegalese mobile licence, Agence Ecofin reports. The offer has been described as ‘spontaneous’, and it is thought that the would-be investors have designs on Senegal’s embryonic LTE sector.
As previously reported by TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate, in January 2016, dismayed at the refusal by the incumbent trio – Orange, Tigo and Expresso – to participate in its planned 4G auction, the Regulatory Authority for Telecoms and Post (Autorite de Regulation des Telecoms et des Postes, ARTP) asserted that it intended to restart the 4G licensing process, this time opening the call for applications to ‘new entrants [and] international telecommunications operators’.
Orange subsequently renewed its operating licence this month, paying XOF100 billion for an enhanced concession, including 4G spectrum, while negotiations with the other players are said to be ongoing.