The Sunday Times has reported that Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group is interested in buying a chunk of Vmobile, Nigeria's second largest GSM operator and one of three companies in that country to win a GSM licence. Vmobile (formerly Econet Wireless Nigeria) is understood to have around 2mn subscribers and is currently 60% owned by private investors and institutions, and 40% owned by state-controlled investment companies.If the report is true, the move marks a change of tack for Virgin Mobile. To date the company's four wireless ventures have taken the form of mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) deals, with Virgin UK running on T-Mobile's network, Virgin USA on Sprint's, Virgin Canada on Bell Mobility's and Virgin Australia on Optus'.

Until early last year, South Africa's Vodacom (35% owned by Vodafone) looked most likely to take a majority equity stake in Vmobile, reportedly with the injection of US$230mn and a re-branding of the service as Vodacom. In May 2004, though, Vodacom pulled out of the deal in rather mysterious and controversial circumstances. Now, according to sources, Vodacom is back in play to buy into Vmobile.

Round about the time of Vodacom's 2004 Vmobile withdrawal, the International Telecommunications Union's 'African Telecommunication Indicators 2004' publication named Africa as the world's fastest growing wireless market, with mobile subscribers increasing by over 1,000% between 1998 and 2003 to reach 51.8mn. According to the ITU, based on different growth scenarios for the continent's mobile market in 2010, African wireless penetration could reach between 10% to a possible 20%, up from 6% in 2003. A year earlier, CIT-PriMetrica's 'Yearbook of African Telecommunications: 2003' identified Nigeria as the fastest growing mobile market in Africa.
John Williamson