Africell will join three other operators including Movicel, Unitel and state-owned Angola Telecom.
US-owned mobile network operator, Africell Group signed an agreement with the Angolan Ministry of Telecommunications, the Angolan Ministry of Finance, and INACOM (the Angolan telecoms regulator), for a licence to become the African nations fourth Global Telecommunications Operator.
The agreement paves the way for Africell to launch operations in Angola by the end of 2021, expanding its existing network beyond Uganda, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Africell will offer a range of affordable services to customers across the country, focusing on a high-quality, high-speed, data-centric mobile network and sophisticated smartphone handsets, all at affordable prices.
Ziad Dalloul, CEO and Chairman of Africell Group, said: Angola is amongst the most attractive investment destinations in sub-Saharan Africa and an African leader, so we see this as the logical next step for Africell as we continue to grow our network and deepen our footprint across the continent.
We are honoured that the government of Angola has put its faith in our business and everyone at Africell is committed to working with the Angolan government to transform the Angolan telecoms market through increased affordability and accessibility.
President of the Board of Directors at INACOM, Eng. Pascoal Borges Alé Fernandes, added: We are pleased that Africell has chosen Angola for its expansion and we hope to work towards the development of the market, thus creating conditions for service users to benefit from better quality services.
Africell plans to invest in infrastructure and services over the first phase of its rollout, a significant portion of which will be subcontracted to local firms. Africells operations in Angola are expected to create approximately 6,500 jobs within 5 years.
Currently, the operator has more than 12m customers in four African countries.
