Etisalat inks network expansion contract with Alca-Lu

Etisalat Nigeria, the local mobile operator of UAE-owned telecoms firm Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat), has signed an agreement with Alcatel-Lucent, under which the equipment vendor will roll out a further 1,000 base stations for the cellco during 2013. Local newspaper Leadership cites Etisalat Nigeria’s CEO Steven Evans as saying that the signing of the contract will help the company in its efforts to continually upgrade its network to provide better services to its customers across the country. The agreement forms the sixth phase of Etisalat’s network expansion and modernisation project with Alcatel-Lucent. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, Etisalat is the fourth largest mobile operator in Nigeria, with a subscriber base of 14.39 million at the end of September 2012, giving it a 13.5% share of the market.