Mcel’s embarks on a large expansion plan in Mozambique
Thématique :
mozambique
Mozambique's largest mobile phone operator, Mcel (Mocambique Celular), has guaranteed that all of the country's 128 districts will be linked to the Mcel network by 2009.
At a meeting in Maputo on Friday, held to present Mcel's results for the 2007 financial year, the company's Chief Executive Officer, Gomes Zitha, said that this year Mcel will invest around 70 million US dollars to improve the quality of its network, and expand its geographical coverage.
The money will also introduce third generation mobile phone services, and provide mobile broadband connection to the Internet for Mcel users. Zitha said this would also permit greater speed and efficiency in teleconferencing, and the sending of packages of data at high velocity.
The chairperson of the Mcel Board of Directors, Salvador Adriano, said that Mcel's revenue grew by 32 per cent, when compared with the 2006 figures, reaching 5.8 billion meticais (about 241 million US dollars). Net profits were much higher than expected, at 346 million meticais (14 million dollars), which was a 12 per cent increase on the 2006 profits.
Expansion went ahead rapidly in 2007, with the installation of a further 79 base stations, allowing mcel to cover about 60 per cent of Mozambique's territory, and about 80 per cent of its population (the corresponding figures for 2006 were 54 per cent and 76 per cent). Total investment in the network in 2007 was 1.3 billion meticais.
Adriano said that since 2006 Mcel has been undertaking "an ambitious programme of modernizing its technological infrastructure, and now has the equipment that can "satisfy the highest expectations of an increasingly sophisticated market".
The 2007 results, he added, were highly significant given the intensive competition in mobile telephony. He was referring to the battle between Mcel and its South African rival, Vodacom, for the Mozambican market. Mcel claims to be winning this battle, consolidating its leadership position with a market share of about 70 per cent (a total of around three million clients).
(Source: Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique)
At a meeting in Maputo on Friday, held to present Mcel's results for the 2007 financial year, the company's Chief Executive Officer, Gomes Zitha, said that this year Mcel will invest around 70 million US dollars to improve the quality of its network, and expand its geographical coverage.
The money will also introduce third generation mobile phone services, and provide mobile broadband connection to the Internet for Mcel users. Zitha said this would also permit greater speed and efficiency in teleconferencing, and the sending of packages of data at high velocity.
The chairperson of the Mcel Board of Directors, Salvador Adriano, said that Mcel's revenue grew by 32 per cent, when compared with the 2006 figures, reaching 5.8 billion meticais (about 241 million US dollars). Net profits were much higher than expected, at 346 million meticais (14 million dollars), which was a 12 per cent increase on the 2006 profits.
Expansion went ahead rapidly in 2007, with the installation of a further 79 base stations, allowing mcel to cover about 60 per cent of Mozambique's territory, and about 80 per cent of its population (the corresponding figures for 2006 were 54 per cent and 76 per cent). Total investment in the network in 2007 was 1.3 billion meticais.
Adriano said that since 2006 Mcel has been undertaking "an ambitious programme of modernizing its technological infrastructure, and now has the equipment that can "satisfy the highest expectations of an increasingly sophisticated market".
The 2007 results, he added, were highly significant given the intensive competition in mobile telephony. He was referring to the battle between Mcel and its South African rival, Vodacom, for the Mozambican market. Mcel claims to be winning this battle, consolidating its leadership position with a market share of about 70 per cent (a total of around three million clients).
(Source: Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique)
