Tim Ekandjo
Portugal Telecom and Oi, Brazil’s largest integrated telecommunications operator, announced last week they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to merge and create a Luso-Brazilian company with an estimated market value of Euro1.8 billion. Local mobile operator, MTC said this week this deal is exciting news since it is already a strategic partner to Portugal Telecom. The latter is considered to be one of the world’s leading telecomms operators especially when it comes to fibre technologies.
“The merger is the natural fulfilment of the industrial alliance established in 2010 between PT and Oi. The combination of PT and Oi will create a leading telecoms operator with operations covering a population of around 260 million people and approximately 100 million subscribers. The merger will consolidate the position of both companies as the leading operator for Portuguese-speaking countries with leadership positions in all markets where it operates. The combined company will aim to achieve significant economies of scale, maximise operational synergies and add value for its shareholders, customers and employees, announced Portugal Telecom. The Business Combination will enhance the implementation of strategic initiatives already underway, where PT and Oi have been sharing expertise and know-how in areas such as product development, customer care, engineering, operations and IT.” The new company will be led by Zeinal Bava, former CEO of PT and current CEO of Oi and PT Portugal. “MTC will be able to extract benefits from this merger and add value for its customers by extending further its best practice sharing platform, access to leading edge technology, increased economies of scale and by being partner of one of the top 20 largest telecom players in the world”, said Tim Ekandjo, Chief Human Capital & Corporate Affairs Officer of MTC. “Customers all over the world wants only the best telecommunications technologies and they want them immediately, MTC’s extended partnership with this new company through its current relationship with Portugal Telecom will strengthen our capability in serving our customers with world class technologies in the shortest possible time which will be of great benefit to our customers. We have always promised to serve our customers with world class telecommunications technologies even though we operate in a developing country, there should therefore be no difference in the telecommunications technologies experienced by MTC customers with that experienced by customers in the rest of the world.” said Ekandjo.
MTC said it has always been at the forefront of introducing new devices and solutions in the Namibian market way before leading operators in South Africa, as a result of such critical international partnerships that we were able to leverage in the best interest of MTC’s customers. “This is also good news for our human capital agenda because through such partnerships we are able to develop our human capacity in the telecommunications industry as our staff will benefit from world class expertise in terms of potential international exchange exposure and training programs.” said Ekandjo adding that “Our human capital agenda is critical to MTC because they create the strength within us and if we are able to continue developing them from this pool of knowledge from two key international partners, it can only contribute to the countries capacity in the area of ICT.” This allows aspiring Namibian IT and Technology students with an excellent opportunity to expand their horizons in this two critical fields and this opportunity allows us the luxury to create this platform of learning within the Namibian telecommunications industry. Portugal Telecom’s international footprint extends to countries like Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Kenya, S. Tomé and Príncipe, Namibia and Timor. Portugal Telecom became a shareholder of MTC after acquiring a 34% stake, including a management contract.
