Investment

Gambia’s Gamcel sold to new comms market entrant

Gambia’s Gamcel sold to new comms market entrant

The Gambian government has begun the privatisation of its state-owned mobile operator, Gamcel, whose parent company, Gamtel, last week signed an agreement with private operator YCELL.

Under the deal, YCELL, a new entrant in the country’s telecommunications industry, will reportedly acquire an 80% stake in Gamcel and provide funding and technical expertise to modernise its network infrastructure and transform its business. This could apparently involve an investment of about US$83 million.

The plan includes nationwide deployment of 4G/LTE and 5G radio access networks, modernisation of the core network, and the introduction of next-generation OSS/BSS, customer relationship management (CRM), and converged billing platforms.

What sounds like a highly ambitious overhaul will also involve the building of a new headquarters for Gamcel, deployment of hybrid power solutions at telecom sites, and the installation of integrated revenue assurance and fraud management systems. Capacity-building initiatives, branding and marketing efforts will also be involved.

According to an audit by the National Audit Office of The Gambia, published in April 2024, Gamtel has failed to keep pace with growing demand for fibre-optic services in several parts of the country because of limitations in network infrastructure and connectivity equipment. The report noted QoS issues, weaknesses in the company's administrative framework and a lack of procedures needed for effective operations. The company has struggled to collect outstanding payments from public institutions, private companies, and individual customer. 

It also looks like the new majority shareholder will have to stem subscriber losses as customers switch to competing providers.

According to the Ecofin news agency, it is still unclear whether the transaction and the announced investments will be carried out – or be effective, given the structural challenges that have affected both Gamcel and Gamtel for years.  However, the YCELL website certainly seems to be open for business.

Gamcel is in third or fourth place in a mobile market dominated by Africell and QCell, which together account for an estimated 90% of the market, though reliable and up-to-date figures are hard to come by.



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