Leo formerly known as Cell One is a mobile telecommunications company in Namibia

Namibia

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...

 providing cellular coverage. It is currently the second largest mobile operator in Namibia with around 300.000 active subscribers.

Leo was established under the name Cell One in 2007 and was the first cellular provider in Namibia offering competition to the largely government owned MTC which operated as a monopoly for almost 10 years. Leo is owned by Telecel

Vodafone Portugal

Vodafone Portugal, a full subsidiary of the Vodafone Group, is the second mobile operator in Portugal, both chronologically and in market share...

 Globe, a subsidiary of the Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

ian Orascom Telecom Holding

Orascom Telecom Holding

Orascom Telecom Holding S.A.E. is a leading international telecommunications company operating GSM networks in the Middle East, Africa, Canada and Asia. It started its operations in Egypt by launching the first egyptian mobile operator in 1998, ....

, and it is a new brand for Telecel, with Namibia being the first country to adopt it amongst a few other SADC countries.

Re-branding

Leo underwent a name change (from Cell One) in September 2009, following its acquisition to new owners, Egyptian-owned Orascom Telecom Holdings, in January 2010 after a $59 million cash deal on 9 January 2010. The name Leo means "today" in Swahili

Swahili language

Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...

, while also representing 'lion' in Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

.