Three of Nigeria’s struggling CDMA operators are planning to join forces to create a new nationwide LTE operator.

The country’s Business Day newspaper reports that investors in operators Multi-Links, Starcomms and MTS are injecting US$200 million to set-up a new JV known as Capcom, creating a stronger challenger to Nigeria’s dominant GSM operators. A restructuring – or recapitalisation – of the country’s largely dormant CDMA sector has been on the cards for some time.

According to documents seen by the newspaper, the combined entity will own 20MHz of bandwidth suitable for LTE services at 1900MHz. It will initially serve an existing base of 160,000 data users but is targeting 2.5 million by 2016.

"The US$200 million investment funds the acquisition of Multi-Links and MTS; recapitalises Starcomms and provides it with sufficient capital and liquidity to finance its existing creditors and working capital; and permits it to expand its existing network through the introduction of 4G/LTE technology to become a major provider of Broadband services to Nigeria’s burgeoning consumers,” the document says.

According to Wireless Intelligence, Visafone is the only serious CDMA player still up and running in Nigeria, boasting an estimated 2.5 million customers in Q2 2012, though it does not appear to be involved in the Capcom deal.

The market is led by GSM operators MTN (43.2 million), Globacom (21.6 million), Airtel (19.3 million) and Etisalat (13 million).