Africa Holding (Africatel), a subsidiary of Portugal Telecom created in 2006, incorporates all the operator's assets in sub-Saharan Africa: three fixed-line operators, five mobile operators (plus a management contract for Mascom in Botswana), and a number of other assets.
Portugal Telecom's sub-Saharan African subsidiaries reported a 38.2% increase in subscribers to 6.032 million in the year to 31 December 2008, representing a net increase of 1.666 million subscribers.
Portugal Telecom's assets in Africa, Asia, and Latin America stem from its legacy investments as a former colonial power. The operator is looking to apply for the third mobile licence in Mozambique, which is due to be put out for tender later in 2009.
Portugal Telecom owns a 75% stake in Africatel, the unit created by Portugal Telecom in 2006 for its sub-Saharan African subsidiaries, following the sale of a 22% stake in August 2007 and a 3% stake in September 2008. The largest subsidiary is Unitel, the Angolan GSM operator, which reported a 38.3% increase in subscribers to 4.572 million by 31 December 2008, underpinned by strong customer growth in Luanda (the capital) and the main districts of the country. Unitel currently competes with Movicel, which operates a CDMA network and has rolled out both CDMA 2000 1X and CDMA 2000 1X EV-DO networks.
In Namibia, Mobile Telecommunications Ltd (MTC) reported overall growth of 34.7% to reach 1.078 million subscribers, having surpassed 1 million in the third quarter. In March 2007, Namibia's second mobile operator, Cell One, launched services, while fixed-line operator Telecom Namibia is also now offering CDMA mobile voice and data services.
Cabo Verde Telecom (Cape Verde) reported a 46.5% increase in total subscribers to 324,000 by 30 June 2008. Its mobile subscribers increased by 70.5% to reach 252,000, but the operator faced the entrance of a competitor during the year. Companhia Santomense de Telecomunicações (CST), the incumbent in Sao Tome and Principe, reported a 35.5% increase in total subscribers to 42,000. CST had 51,000 mobile subscribers by the end of December 2008, an annual increase of 67.9%.
