Africell, this is how the United States tries to stem China in Africa
How and why the United States has decided to support the telecommunications operator Africell. The article by Giuseppe Gaglian o
Tlc war between China and the US also in Africa.
Telecommunications operator Africell, which wants to relaunch itself in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and break into Angola, is receiving strong support from the United States. This is just the latest example of Washington and Beijing's struggle for influence on the continent.
The administration of President Joe Biden seems to have decided to make the telecommunications group one of its instruments of economic influence on the African continent.
This momentum from the US administration comes at a time when Africell is experiencing a renaissance. Twenty years after its founding in Gambia, the operator now has 12 million users in three markets.
It is the leader in Gambia as it has 1.6 million more users than Comium (a group also present in Liberia and led by Nizar Dalloul, brother of Ziad), QCell and Gamcel. In Sierra Leone, according to GSMA, he is in first position behind Orange, ahead of QCell and Sierratel. In the Democratic Republic of Congo it ranks 4th behind Vodacom, Orange and Airtel.
This increased understanding with Uncle Sam, coupled with his departure from Uganda in early October, should allow him to prepare for the December launch in Angola, the fourth operational country.
Initially based in Beirut, Africell has – until now – had a reputation as an exclusive operator, present mainly in urban areas, and for having ambiguous political relations – in particular, with Lambert Mendé, former DRC telecommunications minister over the years. by Kabila.
Now, its managers are determined to present it as a US company. We are "based on the British island of Jersey, with an operational headquarters in London and 95% of our capital is owned by US citizens," says an Africell spokesperson.
It is now well known that it is rebalancing the country's relations in favor of the United States. As if to seal this partnership, Peter Pham was appointed to Africell's board of directors in June 2021. This Republican was the former director of the Africa department of the American think tank of the Atlantic Council and also sits on the board of directors of the British mining company. Rainbow Rare Earths Limited.
The affable and somewhat exuberant nature of the US ambassador almost makes one forget that Africell hired him in the context of the techno-economic war that the US and China have been waging for the past three years. "Only those who are hopelessly deluded deny reality," he says when asked about this. The US ambassador is also there to open doors to countries on the continent that show a desire to get closer to Washington.
The Democratic Republic of Congo, which has over 80 million inhabitants, is one of them. Africell has been present in the country since 2012, although its market share has been stagnant for several quarters, despite a 10% increase in revenues over the past four years, according to data provided by the company. However, the financial boost the operator has received from the US is currently allowing it to upgrade its existing network and enter two new provinces.
On October 18, a meeting was held between the prime minister of the DRC, Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde Kyenge, and an Africell delegation, composed of Dalloul, Pham and the rest of the Africell board of directors, to announce that the network would be extended in Kikwit and Bandundu, Kwilu province and Kasai province.
In Central Africa, many observers were surprised that the company, which employs 1,000 people on the continent, has been awarded the operator license in Angola. Again, US support was decisive. “I welcomed João Lourenço to Washington long before he became president. He has been a very busy defense minister with the United States and knows our policies. It is now known that it is rebalancing the country's relations in favor of the United States, ”says Pham.
Africell has given priority to this market of almost 33 million people, so much so that it even decided to leave Uganda to be able to carry out a "strategic repositioning with the aim of freeing up resources to fuel Africell's future growth in other African markets," like Angola, ”says a spokesperson for the group.
Although Africell is recovering, it will still need to seek new funding quickly to sustain itself over the long term.
For his part, and without revealing anything, Pham assured that the group is working on new financial contributions. “They might have all the money in the world, but without an excellent operations team capable of executing a takeover strategy, they won't get very far,” says the head of a rival operator.
In Angola, Africell has been tasked with setting up a 5G network, although this type of technology is not a priority in African markets, where the current challenge is to move from 3G to 4G.
“We are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in this project in Angola. We have already announced technology partnerships with Nokia, Oracle and Aviat and will announce more soon, ”says Christopher Lundh, director of Africell's Angola branch. These ambitions are similar to the conquest of the West, the aim of which is to make the omnipotent local operator Unitel tremble .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/stati-uniti-telecomunicazioni-angola-africell/ on Mon, 15 Nov 2021 07:51:12 +0000.