9mobile -- formerly Etisalat Nigeria -- on Sunday, August 25th secured a $230 million (₦83 billion) loan from the African Finance Corporation (AFC) to re-invigorate their services as they compete in the Nigerian telecom market.
AFC stated that approving this loan was in line with their vision to improve the provision of debt and equity finance and would reposition 9mobile for growth and profitability.
This loan, according to 9mobile, would go towards repaying debts, financing various operational costs and increasing infrastructural investments.
In 2017, 9mobile -- as Etisalat Nigeria -- was initially involved in a number of court disputes regarding debts incurred from a loan of $1.2 billion (₦434 billion) taken from a group of Nigerian commercial banks.
The situation was mitigated by the intervention of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which subsequently led to its acquisition by Teleology Nigeria limited -- a consortium of local and foreign investors.
Teleology Holdings, one of the foreign investors with a minority stake in Teleology Nigeria Limited pulled out of the consortium in January 2019 and other partners in the consortium filled in the gap and completed the acquisition.
Suggested Read: Teleology Holdings Limited owned a minority stake in 9mobile
9mobile has been losing subscribers steadily over the years, dropping from 22.4 million subscribers in June 2016 to 15.9 million subscribers in June 2019.
9mobile claimed that this credit facility will help the company afford the necessary ingredients needed to remain competitive in the Nigerian Telecom Market.
