Senegal's Former PM Offers to Buy Stake in Sonatel to Stave off Foreign Interest

Senegal's former Prime Minister, Mustafa Niasse Alliance has indicated his intention to buy into Sonatel, a move he hopes will prevent the government from selling part of its stake to foreigners. 

The Sonatel workers pursue their meetings with leaders of opinion in the country to convince State not to consider selling its shares to France Telecom. This Friday, may 8, they were sacred Cœur at Headquarters the afp where they exchanged on the issue with the Secretary-General of the party said. 

Mustafa Niasse who expressed solidarity with the Sonatél emloyeess has advocated, on occasion, a national preference when it comes to assign to-DOS also strategic as the Sonatel business. Thus, the former Prime Minister expressed ready to become a shareholder in society, just to preserve national interests. 

The State having already decided to no longer sell 9,87 % of its shares to France Telecom, the Sonatel workers continue to interact with the different layers of society just to call the State, the next time to consult with workers to take an also heavy decision therefore that this sale would of France Telecom company shareholder. 

France Telecom Gets Controlling Stake in Sonatel

France Telecom has taken control of Senegal based Sonatel after it brought 9.87% of the company from the Senegalese government, taking its ownership to 52.2%. Once the transaction has been completed, the Senegalese government will remain Sonatel’s second biggest shareholder with 17.28% of the operator's capital.

After various shareholder payments, the net cost to France Telecom will be EUR209 million (US$278.5 million).

France Telecom originally invested in the landline and mobile network operator in 1997. In addition to rebranding as Orange, the Group has expanded in Mali, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. At the end of last year, the Group had 3.8 million customers in Senegal, and a further 3.4 million in surrounding countries.

On signing this agreement, Marc Rennard, France Telecom’s Executive Director of the AMEA region and Chairman of Sonatel, said: "Since 1997, France Telecom has been very happy to support Sonatel's success in Senegal and the surrounding region. The quality of Sonatel's teams combined with France Telecom's experience have made Sonatel one of the most important operators in West Africa, especially in terms of innovation and service quality, which continue to benefit the Group's customers across its footprint. This new stage in our partnership will strengthen the dynamic business performance that characterises the Sonatel Group”.