Who is Monty Mobile, the Rescuer of Comium Gambia ?

The name of the UK company investing in troubled Gambian operator Comium and, importantly, promising to rid it of its outstanding debts has been revealed. It is Monty Mobile.

Founded in 1998, Monty Mobile positions itself as a leading VAS and telecom solutions provider and an international SMS wholesale intermediary hub, working closely with worldwide mobile operators, aggregators, and enterprises to facilitate the international flow of voice and SMS across global markets.

Monty Mobile has over time extended its portfolio to include a wide range of fintech, data monetization, IoT, and mobile advertising solutions.

Comium is accused by Gambian regulator PURA of owing it over $1.3 million in non-payment of dues. As a result, the company came close to losing its license altogether earlier this month.

Yusupha Jobe, managing director of PURA, explained that beyond the financial aspect, Comium also failed to provide the state with the information required by law on investment. He said the telecoms regulator wants all of these obligations to be met. Otherwise, the company is inevitably close to revoking its operating license.

Lamin Drammeh, CTO of Comium, revealed that the operator recently welcomed a new international investor with whom a management agreement has been signed to resolve all current financial and network issues, including the introduction later of 4G and 5G. He stressed that the new investments would improve the country’s economic situation and create additional jobs with an increase of at least 30% of the existing workforce of Comium.

The UK-headquartered company has now invested in Comium, according to Drammeh in his press conference.

Comium services were suspended for a month on 5 October. Still, it somehow turned things around, when it managers declared at a press conference that a UK investor – now revealed to be Monty Mobile – was willing to clear all of its debts to allow the suspension to be lifted and to assist the operator in developing its services in the future. It also pledged to make a payment of 14 million Gambian dalasis (about $271,660).

Monty Mobile has worked with several African operators in the past. For example, in recent years, it has announced a collaboration with Somtel of Somaliland to implement two value-added services: My RBT (ring back tone) and missed call alerts. It has also reported partnerships with 9mobile of Nigeria and Glo Ghana, which chose Monty Mobile as their preferred international A2P SMS hub.