sealed the deal to acquire Visafone, owned by the
banking magnate, Mr. Jim Ovia according to the
DailyTrust.
The acquisition of Visafone, the only surviving the only
surviving Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
operator in Nigeria, by MTN, a GSM operator, marks the
final death of CDMA operations in Africa’s largest
economy.
Feelers emerged on Wednesday that Visafone was
winding down operations and had sacked more than 83
per cent of its workers as part of its acquisition by the
MTN Nigeria.
A correspondent of Punch gathered that over 2,000
employees were disengaged with effect from January 5,
2016, and were paid three months’ salaries as
severance package. The only categories of employees
said to be left were those in the personnel and
transmission departments.
One of the affected workers, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, told a correspondent that the sacking came
as a surprise to many of them.
“We learnt that the management would downsize, but
we were told that that would be later in 2016. It is,
however, surprising that they are sending majority of us
away so early in the year. Though they paid three
months’ severance benefits, but should it be this way?
“Some of us have put in five to 10 years of our lives in
keeping the business going, but see what we are getting
now. It is well.”
A senior management employee at Visafone confirmed
the sacking, but was quick to refer media enquiries to
MTN because he was not authorised to speak on the
deal.
When contacted, MTN Nigeria neither denied nor
confirmed the deal, but said the management was
already working on a statement that would be made
available to journalists later in the day or today
(Thursday).
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