Africell buys Tigo to expand in Sierra Leone

Africell's agreement with Millicom International Cellular to acquire Millicom's GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) operations in Sierra Leone, branded as Tigo, will make it the biggest telecommunications company in the country.

Tigo's operation seems more effective in remote parts of the country, where its network coverage has a firm grip on users.

This will be very advantageous to Africell, whose expansion drive has been boosted recently through continuous promotional campaigns and value added services such as free SMS (Short Message Service) and a weekly bonus on all calls made.

Africell's announcement about Tigo, made earlier this week, did not come as a surprise. Tigo's advertising campaigns have dropped drastically recently, and many industry observers were even predicting the company's liquidation.

Before the announcement, there was stiff competition between Africell and Comium over which of the telcos could claim the largest subscriber base.

While Africell touted itself as the biggest GSM company in the country with 700,000 subscribers, most people considered the claim an advertising gimmick because the figure did not come from the telecom regulatory body, NATCOM.

More so, NATCOM had warned Africell to desist from such claims, saying the telco did not have the ability to determine which company was biggest.

Earlier this year, after Millicom had reportedly classified Tigo as an asset target, information leaked out that South African telco MTN was prepared to put in a bid for Tigo as part of its plan to penetrate the West African mobile market. But nothing concrete was presented afterward.