Word on the street is that MTN Group has commenced the
process of acquiring Visafone Communications Limited. While details are sketchy
at the moment, MTN is apparently buying it as an expansion move in a market it
already dominates. Visafone currently has just about 2.2 million subscribers
against MTN’s 55 million, so it’s fair to assume that the growth in this case
is not subscribers but most likely technology.
If the move goes through, it won’t be the first company MTN
would be acquiring for its tech. In 2007, just around time Visafone was setting
up, MTN acquired VGC Communications, a telecommunications provider licensed to
provide cabling and radio telephone services nationwide. The company had laid
an extensive fibre optic cable network around VGC and took care of most of the
telephony needs there at the time. The same company is today behind MTN’s wimax
service – Hynet among other things.
The acquisition may also be related to a license that
Visafone has that MTN might need, however, as at the time of writing this, I am
clueless as to which one it could be. In any case, it will be interesting to
see what becomes of the acquisition if it goes through. And also what becomes
of their 10 terabyte plan.
Source: BloomBerg
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