THREE potential investors have paid a $25 000 commitment fee in order to bid for a stake in the state-run Nigerian telecoms firm Nitel. The government privatisation agency, the Bureau of Public Enterprises, named the consortia of local and foreign investors as Telnet Consortium comprising Korean Telecom and Swedetel AB, a Swedish firm; Newtel Consortium and Investors International Consortium. The agency said the investors had begun inspecting Nitel’s facilities. Nitel, for years Nigeria’s sole national telecommunications carrier, has just around 400 000 lines operational across the country, which has a population of more than 120-million. The government of President Olusegun Obasanjo has pledged to sell off a 51% stake in the under-performing company by November to core foreign investors. The minority 49% stake is expected to be sold off in a rolling three-year cross-border listing to smaller investors. The agency also announced that the sale of the state-run ship-building company Nigerdock would be completed by November 14. It said six foreign firms from France, Poland, Norway and the United States have already indicated interest in the government’s 51% holding in the company. The balance of 49% will be sold to Nigerians, it added. – AFP