Hopes have risen that Nigeria's long-promised telecoms revolution will finally begin, with a report of the signing of a $10bn equipment deal.

Globacom, the country's second telecoms operator, has signed a deal with French-based Alcatel to build a cutting edge telecoms network, Nigerian newspaper The Day said.

The deal, backed by BNP Paribas, will enable Globacom by December to roll-out 1 million digital mobile lines, the newspaper said.

And it represents a rare piece of good telecoms news for Nigeria which, while boasting 120 million and a vast potential market for operators, is currently poorly served.

Fewer than one in 250 people have mobile phones.

Bid collapses

Nigeria early this year saw a landmark deal to sell a 51% stake in state-run Nitel collapse.

The intended buyer - International Investors London, a group led by Nigerian banks and senior politicians - failed to come up with the $1.2bn balance of its bid.

Locally-based Globacom in August won a licence to compete with Nitel.

Globacom is contracted to have 150,000 connected lines in the first year of operation, and 1.2 million lines in five years time.

Nitel has fewer than 500,000 lines after nearly 50 years of operation