Angola currently has two mobile phone operators in operation- Unitel e Movable, we await the entry into operation of the Angorascom, company that was licensed by the public operator AngolaTelecom and the result of the fourth operator's tender.
Lately, operating operators have registered some changes with regard to the shareholders that insure the two companies. Movicel now has a new face within its capital structure, the National Social Security Institute now it is the second largest shareholder with 25% and enters an investment of 100 million kwanzas.
In the Unitel operator there were also changes in the group of shareholders, now the Sonangol happens to be the company with the most shares within the telephony after acquiring the 25% of the Brazilian Oi, a business that started in the year 2019 and that has now ended.
With the recent changes in the group of shareholders in the two operators, it is expected that in the near future some changes will also arise in several sectors. Currently Unitel has an advantage with an 80% market share, Unitel also has the largest infrastructure network.
Movicel, on the other hand, has a partnership with Vodafone that has been innovating and improving its services, the quality of its network, as well as the operator's central infrastructure. An interesting dispute is expected in the coming years in the mobile phone market, which has grown more and more.
Despite the fact that Unitel is further ahead in comparison with Movicel, it is possible that this advantage will be reduced with the entry into operation of the third operator that has the year 2021 for its start-up. The mobile phone market in Angola will be even more disputed as soon as the winner of the fourth license is announced in a contest that follows its procedures and according to the latest information that Menos Fios found is that the winner is announced in the first quarter of the year in course.
All of this will be more and more advantageous for us, the users of the country's mobile network, the more options we have and we will choose to use the operator that offers the best quality with affordable rates. Therefore, we can only hope that the future of mobile telephony in Angola will be advantageous and positive for the country.
What about the embargo on Isabel dos Santos' accounts? What weight would that have on Unitel? The unitel has always been the big fish in the small aquarium. Expansion plans now will not have as much capital as in the past.