Lesson plan

SONITEL

SONITEL ( ) was the Nigerien national telephone and telecommunications carrier from the late 1990s until the mid-2010s. It was created on 20 March 1997 as a fusion of the telecommunications arm of Nigerien Posts and Telecommunications ( ) and the STIN ( ), which controlled land line telephone connections abroad. The process had begun with the passage of a law aimed at the privatisation of telecommunications (Ordonnance N°96-031 du 11 juin 1996), and was part of a larger process of internationally led privatisation of Niger's once large parastatal sector. SONITEL had the government of Niger as a majority share holder. Following the 1999 Constitution of the Fifth Republic of Niger, SONITEL was to be privatised, and in 2001, after an unsuccessful round of offerings, the majority of the companies shares were sold. In December 2001, 51% of the company was purchased by the Sino-Libyan consortium DATAPORT, made up of ZTE and the Libyan LAAICO company. The ZTE majority consortium reportedly paid 11.8 billion FCFA, beating out FranceTelecom and SONATEL. The government of Niger continued to hold 34.11% of the company, with private investors taking 11%, the 1300 employees of SONITEL holding 3%, and France Câbles & Radio – who had been a stakeholder in STIN, 0.89%.…

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Article summary

SONITEL ( ) was the Nigerien national telephone and telecommunications carrier from the late 1990s until the mid-2010s. It was created on 20 March 1997 as a fusion of the telecommunications arm of Nigerien Posts and Telecommunications ( ) and the STIN ( ), which controlled land line telephone connections abroad. The process had begun with the passage of a law aimed at the privatisation of telecommunications (Ordonnance N°96-031 du 11 juin 1996), and was part of a larger process of internationally led privatisation of Niger's once large parastatal sector. SONITEL had the government of Niger as a majority share holder. Following the 1999 Constitution of the Fifth Republic of Niger, SONITEL was to be privatised, and in 2001, after an unsuccessful round of offerings, the majority of the companies shares were sold. In December 2001, 51% of the company was purchased by the Sino-Libyan consortium DATAPORT, made up of ZTE and the Libyan LAAICO company. The ZTE majority consortium reportedly paid 11.8 billion FCFA, beating out FranceTelecom and SONATEL. The government of Niger continued to hold 34.11% of the company, with private investors taking 11%, the 1300 employees of SONITEL holding 3%, and France Câbles & Radio – who had been a stakeholder in STIN, 0.89%.…

Key claims

  1. employees: 1300 employees — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the employees is "1300 employees". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1311736884

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.