Beruit-based Comium Mobile, a subsidiary of the Comium Group, has secured a GSM 2G licence in Gambia as part of its expansion programme into West Africa.
According to Tony Ghattas, VP of business development for Comium Holdings, the company is going to invest more than $250 million into the West African market over the next three years to build on future and existing operations.
Last month, Comium was awarded a greenfield mobile licence (GSM 900/ 1800) in Cote d`Ivoire, as well as having fully operational mobile operating licences and international voice and broadband wireless Internet services in Liberia and Sierra Leone, placing the telecom operator at the top of the mobile market in the region.
Ghattas says the group is actively seeking opportunities in privatising incumbent telecoms operations and has recently been pre-qualified for the privatisation process of Gabon Telecom.
Comium will become the third operator in Gambia after Africell and Gamcell when it goes commercial in the first quarter of 2007, he says.
Ghattas believes the Gambian mobile market is fairly unsaturated, leaving room for strong growth. According to a company press release, Gambia has an estimated population of 1.6 million, with only 265 000 mobile subscribers recorded in December 2005, yielding a penetration rate of about 16%.
He adds the company is planning to reach three million subscribers in West Africa by 2009, with the subscriber base in the region standing at 250 000.
Ghattas notes Comium is in tune with the needs of the regional market as it has experience in building networks in emerging and war-torn markets. The company started mobile operations in post-war Lebanon and Iraq.
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