Strategy: Telecoms operator Etisalat Nigeria has rebranded its corporate identity; now 9Mobile telecom

The embattled telecom company will now be known as 9mobile.

The embattled telecom company Etisalat Nigeria has moved away from the shadows of its troubles by taking a new brand name.

Management of the company decided on 9Mobile as the new brand name after in the company's office in Lagos.

This comes after the company’s largest shareholder, Emirates Telecommunications Corporation, directed Etisalat Nigeria to stop using its brand name within the next three weeks, after terminating management agreement with its Nigerian arm.

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Until June 15, the United Arab Emirates, UAE, group was a major shareholder in Etisalat Nigeria, along with United Arab Emirates Sovereign Wealth Fund from Mubadala Development Company, Abu Dhabi.

The two entities owned 85 per cent equity in the telecom firm.

The company’s largest shareholders decided to terminate their contract the crisis which occurred when the company took a syndicated loan of $1.2 billion in 2013 from a consortium of 13 Nigerian banks.

The detachment from Etisalat and the reconstitution of the company’s Board of directors brought a fresh headache to its management.

According to the Vice President Regulatory and Corporate Affairs of EMTS Ibrahim Dikko, "the company had a valid and subsisting agreement with its former parent company, to continue using the Etisalat brand regardless of the recent restructuring of the Company".

Although the has been a change in the brand name the new name is yet to be unveiled officially to the public. 

The embattled telecom company will now be known as 9mobile. Read Full Story