Telecom Namibia buys second operator

Published on 12.01.2012

Namibia’s state-owned telecommunications company Telecom Namibia has bought the country’s financially-troubled second mobile network operatorPowercom, which is currently branded as Leo. Telecom Namibia will use its new acquisition to boost its own struggling mobile division Switch. The terms and value of the sale have not yet been disclosed.
Leo has already changed ownership several times and former ownerTelecel Globe had been trying to sell off the business since 2010, just a year after buying it. In June 2011 Telecel Globe, part of Egypt’s Orascom Telecom, agreed to sell Powercom (Leo) to UK-registered, southern African investment fund Investec Asset Management and South African banking group Nedbank Group in a cashless deal involving the transfer of the cellco’s US$60m of debt.Telecel Globe bought Leo from a consortium of Namibian companies and individuals for approximately N$600m (US$75m).