The Moment

Bharti Airtel has said it will appeal against a Nigerian High Court ruling which gave Econet Wireless 5 per cent share in Airtel Nigeria. A Federal High Court, last week, awarded Econet Wireless the 5 per cent stake, after a lengthy legal process.

Econet said in a statement earlier Monday that the high court had reinstated the shares and also ordered that the name change from Econet Wireless Nigeria Limited was irregular, and must be reversed forthwith.

The Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited said the Nigerian Communications Satellite-1Replacement (NigComSat-1R) would be launched on Dec. 19. The managing director of NigComSat-IR, Timasaniyu Ahmed-Rufai stated this at the stakeholders' conference and exhibition on NigComSat-1R, entitled "Pre-launch Marketing and Sensitisation on NigComSat-1R." He said that the new satellite would be sent into the orbit from China.

The managing director noted that 18 months after the launch of NigComSat-1 on May 13, 2007, the satellite was de-orbited on November 10, 2008.