The Zambian government has reversed the sale of the country's largest fixed-line telephone provider, Zamtel, to Libya's LAP Green Networks after an investigation concluded that the 2010 transaction was grossly undervalued.
LAP Green, which also has investments in Uganda, Tanzania and other African countries, was ruled to have undermined the privatization of Zamtel and flouted various procedures when it bought 75% in the former state-owned company for US$257m, beating bids from groups led by Angola's Unitel Corp and Russia's Vimpelcom.
HiTS Telecom is holding talks with mobile operators in Liberia and Tanzania regarding a plan to share mobile towers and launch nationwide services in both countries before the end of 2012.
Liberia is reported to be just 25 sites, while the Tanzania portfolio is in the hundreds.
Liquid Telecommunications, a subsidiary of the Econet Wireless Group, has acquired one of Zimbabwe’s ISPs, Zimbabwe Online (ZOL), to make it Zimbabwe’s largest data company.
ZOL, which offers fibre, VSAT and wireless services, would remain an independent company in terms of branding and operations, sources said.
Vodacom is exploring ways of selling its 51% stake in Vodacom Congo, in a move which would take it out of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The balance of 49% is held by Congolese Wireless Network, which is understood to want to hold on to its shares. The two sides have been in disagreement since early 2010 over a US$484m investment requirement for Vodacom Congo. NM Rothschild was appointed to explore ways of resolving the conflict, but does not appear to have been successful to date.
Having failed to sell Benin Telecom to Maroc Telecom or Orange, the government is reportedly considering breaking up the troubled operator and selling its piecemeal. Options considered are selling the mobile operations, or selling off the infrastructure assets, possibly via a concession structure. The company has 1,000 staff and debts of E300m equivalent.
Mobile operatorTunisiana should soon be awarded a 3G licence, according to statements from Qtel president Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohamed Bin Saud al-Thani, owner of 75% of Tunisiana’s shares. The balance of 25% was owned by Sakhr el Materi, son in law of former president Ben Ali. The shares have since been seized by the government. Tunisiana competes with two other operators.
BhartiAirtel, Monaco Telecom, a unit of Cable & Wireless, and Vietnam's Viettel are reported to be in talks with Cameroon's ministry of telecommunications to buy the country’s third mobile licence, according to local news reports.
The new firm will join MTN Cameroon, and Orange Cameroon to operate in the West African nation's fast-growing mobile telephony business.
MTN Cameroon and Orange Cameroon have 7 million mobile phone subscribers among the country's 20 million inhabitants, according to government figures.
Etisalat is looking to sell 4,000-5,000 mobile phone towers in Africa to raise US$500-600m so it can increase investment in other operations in Africa, the company said in comments to the Wall Street Journal. Standard Chartered is understood to be mandated to advise on the sale.
The United Arab Emirates’ based telecom operator plans to bid on a number of mobile phone licenses on the continent, according to sources close to the company.
US media giant News Corp has secured a deal to buy a minority stake in Dubai media company the Moby Group, in a bid to aid the group’s expansion around the Middle East.
The New York-based firm, which also has a 14.5% stake in Prince Alwaleed’s media company Rotana Holding, will help finance Moby’s debut in new markets and also provide media expertise, the director of Moby Group said.
The Moby Group, which is also active in Afghanistan, first tied -up with News Corp in 2007, giving the Rupert-Murdoch owned firm a 50% share of its subsidiary Broadcast Middle East (BME).
