African Continental Telecommunications Limited (ACTEL) announced today that it will invest $835 million in a two-phase deal to establish an advanced satellite telecommunications network in Africa.
The first phase of the network will be in place by late-1998,
with the repositioning of a geo-stationary satellite leased from
American Mobile Satellite Corporation of Reston, Va.
The second phase will involve the construction and launch of a
replacement satellite with expanded geographic and service delivery,
by 2001.
ACTEL is a satellite-based telecommunications network providing
sophisticated voice, data, paging, dispatch and emergency services
across the entire African continent when fully operational. The
service will operate through dual mode handsets, mobile units,
private fixed sites, local Ku telephony loops and rural payphones.
This new wireless service will enable a user to place or receive a
phone call, page, fax or data transmission to or from any place in
the world at affordable prices.
ACTEL, incorporated in Gibraltar, is a venture formed by the
recent merger of African Telecommunications, Limited (AfriCom), led
by Percy Sutton, Chairman Emeritus of Inner City Broadcasting
Corporation, Gregory Brown, AfriCom founder and Prentiss Yancey,
Atlanta attorney and businessman, and Elcor Holdings Limited, led by
Paul Dollery, a prominent investor from the United Kingdom. ACTEL's
primary investor is Inner City Broadcasting Corporation,
headquartered in New York City. ACTEL plans to take its South
African subsidiary, Elcor Satellites (Proprietary) Limited, public on
the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in early 1998, lead-managed by
Merrill Lynch, and a second offering on the NASDAQ exchange later
that same year.
“Soon, for the first time, more individuals and businesses of the
African nations will be able to benefit from the information age,''
said James R. Walker, ACTEL's CEO, formerly a Vice President at
Lucent Technologies, Inc. and AT&T. In phase one, the satellite
leased from AMSC will be repositioned from its current orbital slot
at 101 degrees West (where it serves customers in the USA) to 11.5
degrees East, to provide mobile and fixed-point telephone services to
businesses and individual customers in urban and rural Africa.
Walker added, “The first satellite will bring much-needed
communication to mobile users and remote villages previously
unreached by telephone service of any kind.'' Prior to the
repositioning, AMSC's US customers will be transferred to a satellite
jointly owned by AMSC and TMI.
ACTEL will sell its services initially in the southern African
countries of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique and Namibia. It
will market its services through and in cooperation with the local
PTT's of these countries and in-country service providers. The
Plessey Corporation will provide engineering, installation and
maintenance services.
In the second phase, approximately two-and-one-half years later,
ACTEL will expand its market territory with the launch of a new,
geo-mobile satellite providing voice and data services across the
entire African continent. This second satellite, Elcor 2, will allow
customers to originate and receive local and international telephone
calls with a lightweight, dual mode handset, and will be the first
service offering of its kind to cover the entire continent of Africa.
“ACTEL's investment will contribute to continuing economic growth in
Africa,'' said Percy Sutton, board chairman of the new venture.
“Communications infrastructure is the cornerstone of economic growth
and social development, and the introduction of this network will
provide our African customers the opportunity to participate in both
regional and global economies,'' he added.
About ACTEL
Among ACTEL's management are leaders in the international
telecommunications industry including CEO James R. Walker, President
of Satellite Operations Ernest DeNigris, formerly AT&T Vice President
and general manager for Skynet Satellite Services, CFO Michael
Johnson, formerly AT&T CFO and Vice President Information Technology
Group, and others from the Plessey Corporation and Cable and
Wireless. Among the board members and advisors are several prominent
African American and African business leaders, including Pierre M.
Sutton, Chairman of Inner City Broadcasting Corporation, former
Ambassador Andrew Young, former African Development Bank President
Babacar N'Diaye, long time African activist and business leader,
Balozi Harvey, South African based businessman, Robert Tibbs,
Zimbabwean entrepreneur, Hosea Mapondera, Victor Labat, President of
Labat-Anderson Consultants and Charles C. Andrews, Jr., an executive
with Inner City Broadcasting Corporation. Additionally, an advisory
board of prominent African business leaders, whose interests include
the commercial and economic viability of Africa, is being developed.
