Oh yes you did. Oh no we didn't! Long-delayed attempts to privatise Nitel, Nigeria's former state telecoms monopoly, have descended into farce after the Nigerian government found itself arguing with some of the preferred bidders over whether they had, in fact, bid at all. China Unicom – named as part of the winning consortium – said it had nothing to do with it. Abuja insisted otherwise.
At $2.5bn, the offer had a whiff of fantasy from the start. The sum is a quarter of what Bharti Airtel this week offered for Zain's African businesses, with 42m subscribers between them. Nitel has a few thousand mobile customers and 100,000 fixed-line users. However the pantomime plays out, Bharti should take note of the sometimes chaotic environment it is wading into. With its shares down 11 per cent this week, investors look nervous already.