Sierra Leone is moving to sell Sierratel, the national carrier, as government officials acknowledge that the company does not have the financial resources to compete with rival telecommunications providers. Sierra Leone’s National Commission of Privatization (NCP) Monday called for an Expressions Of Interest for the management of Sierratel, a first step to seeking bids for the company.

NCP said it has "commenced a business reform program of Sierratel with the objective of improving the efficiency, productivity, customer service delivery, capacity building and overall financial and operational performance." The government is seeking a telecom company to take over all areas of business operations and the management of Sierratel, and be responsible for the day-to-day management, operations, maintenance and long-term business planning of the company.

To guarantee fairness in the bid, NCP said the management contract will be awarded through the international competitive bidding process.

The NCP has said that Sierratel is overstaffed and that its financial position is so weak that it went into joint venture partnerships with United Telecom of India and Huawei of China — both through direct negotiations rather than competitive bidding — in order to meet some of its urgent rehabilitation needs.

Just last year, Sierratel introduced its CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) network and an EVDO (Evolution-Data Optimized) USB modern Internet connection capability. But earlier this month, while responding to a claim that its subscribers are finding it difficult to obtain recharge cards for their phones at various sales points, the managing director of Sierratel, Alpha Sesay, disclosed to the media that the newly revived national carrier is in a financial mess.

Sesay highlighted some of the reasons for why the telco cannot compete with the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) operators in the country. He said capital investment in Sierratel is very low. He stressed that the completion of its CDMA project was made possible by a loan from the Chinese government, with US$16.5 million being provided directly to the manufacturer, Huawei, which supplied the equipment and expertise for the installation of the system.

"We cannot compete with the GSM networks that are working on a capital investment of more than US$40 million. They are also using that amount to expand, upkeep and sensitize the public of their operations," Sesay said, adding that the telco could not build beyond its 29 cell sites all over the country due to a lack of capital.

The telephone company suffered huge destruction of its infrastructure during the decadelong civil war that ended in 2002. Its microwave radio transmission equipment and solar power plants installed in the provinces were destroyed. Almost the entire telephone system is outdated, with only a few exchanges and part of the transmission network in Freetown converted to digital technology.

Credit: OMD Norge.

Photo: NCP Chairman Abu Bangura.