Orange Is Only Bidder For Congo Telecom

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has confirmed that France Telecom (FT) is the only bidder for its 49% stake in Congo Chine Telecom (CCT). 


Already in talks with Chinese vendor ZTE for its 51% share of the company, FT is expected to pay around EUR300 million (USD) in total for the operator, a reflection of its level of debt, rather than its value. 


Reuters reports that, Elie Girard, FT’s executive director said that this is an ‘important step, but not the final step of the process of the withdrawal of the state from CCT and the acquisition’. 


The move is part of a broader strategy from FT to increase its presence in emerging markets to offset increasing competition and declining revenues in Europe.

Vodacom Could Re-brand To Vodafone Colours

According to Times Live, South Africa-based telecoms group Vodacom is poised to unveil its new corporate colours at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto on Friday night.

Although Vodacom has yet to confirm the details, mounting press speculation indicates that the firm will be re-branded in line with the red and white colour scheme used by parent company Vodafone, which secured a controlling stake in Vodacom in May 2009.

Vodacom, which also has operations in Mozambique, Tanzania, Lesotho and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has reportedly budgeted a sum of ZAR200 million (USD29 million) for the re-branding exercise. However, Vodacom is expected to retain its name after the transition, despite Vodafone's global strategy to re-brand all operations in which it has a controlling stake. 

Vodafone, which holds a 65% stake in Vodacom, intends to increase its connection to Vodacom, by rotating executives among its foreign units and allowing Vodacom to leverage its global supply chain as well as introducing in new services pioneered by Vodafone elsewhere.

Domestic Market Boosts Vodacom Revenues Up 3.9%

South Africa-based Vodacom Group has reported consolidated revenues of ZAR16.03 billion (USD2.24 billion) for the three months ended 31 December 2010. 


This figure represents an increase of 3.9% year-on-year. Vodacom’s domestic unit, Vodacom South Africa accounted for ZAR14.07 billion in sales, or 87.7% of the group’s total quarterly revenues. 


The telecoms firm has yet to release figures for EBITDA or net profit. Of Vodacom South Africa’s revenues, mobile voice traffic was responsible for the lion’s share of the takings, generating ZAR7.43 billion, whilst mobile interconnection fees contributed ZAR1.78 billion, mobile data ZAR1.75 billion and mobile messaging ZAR644 million. Data exhibited the largest increase year-on-year, growing 50.5%. 

In operational terms, Vodacom South Africa remains the firm’s largest unit by subscribers, although its customer base dropped 6.6% year-on-year, to 25.3 million. However, any losses have been offset by the company’s enlarged post-paid subscriber base which grew 14.8% year-on-year. 


Elsewhere, Vodacom units in Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Lesotho all increased their subscriber bases in the twelve months ended 31 December. Lesotho contributed the largest proportion of growth, increasing its customer base 28.6% to 823,000. Tanzania grew its subscriber base 26%, to end the year with 8.7 million subscribers, whilst Mozambique weighed in with 2.9 million customers (up 27.7%) and Democratic Republic of Congo 3.8 million subscribers (up 9.2%). 


Vodacom Group ended the calendar year with a consolidated wireless subscriber base of 41.6 million. 


Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys commented: ‘Our strategy of focusing on operational delivery and offering increased value to customers has paid off with group customers increasing by more than two million to 41.6 million. 


In South Africa, the data business was a star performer, with growth in mobile connect cards and smartphones driving a 33.8% increase in overall data revenue. The international operations also continued to respond well to management actions with service revenue growth of 13.2%’.

Millicom International Cellular (MIC) has announced that its subsidiary in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Oasis (Tigo DRC), has agreed to sell 729 towers to Helios Towers DRC, a direct subsidiary of Helios Towers Africa.

As a result of the transaction, Tigo DRC will receive at least USD45 million of cash up front and will retain a significant minority interest in HTD. Additionally, Tigo DRC and HTD have entered into a long term leasing agreement whereby HTD will provide Tigo DRC with access to wireless communications towers and a build-to-suit agreement to support the company's wireless networks.

HTD will seek similar agreements with other operators in DRC. The transaction is expected to create savings in both capital and operating expenditure for Tigo DRC. The specific number of towers and final purchase price will be determined at closing. First closing of the transaction, subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to take place around Q3 2011.


Mikael Grahne, President and CEO of Millicom, said: ‘This agreement with HTD in DRC is Millicom’s third such deal with Helios in Africa and it brings us to a point where nearly two-thirds of our towers in Africa are committed to be outsourced.
 
'We view the DRC as a very attractive market for asset sharing considering its size, lower average purchasing power and logistical complexities. We are confident that this and similar previously announced ventures will continue to produce satisfactory results and improved service levels as we have experienced in Ghana since the creation of the first tower joint venture in Africa with Helios in January 2010. These agreements, and any future sale of our remaining towers in Africa, will enable us to improve both our capital and operating efficiency by focusing on our core activities of sales, marketing, branding, distribution, service innovation and customer care.’

Tanzania Retains 40pc Stake In Zain

The government of Tanzania is set to receive TZS15.4 billion (USD11.2 million) and to hold on to its 40% stake in fixed and mobile operator Zain Tanzania following the sale of the telco to India’s Bharti Airtel.

Last month the Indians finalised the acquisition of the African assets of Kuwait-based Zain Group, with the deal valued at USD10.7 billion. Under the terms of the deal, first announced in March 2010, Bharti will pay USD8.3 billion upfront, followed by a further cash payment of USD700 million after one year, while it will also take over approximately USD1.7 billion of Zain’s debt.

The Citizen now reports that the country's minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology, Prof Peter Msolla, told the National Assembly that the government is still in talks with Bharti Airtel concerning the sale. In a debate on the country’s budget for the 2010/11 financial year, Msolla said: ‘We met with the company’s officials on 21 June to discuss the sale… We have told them to finalise the evaluation of the assets so that we can determine whether the payment made to us is satisfactory.’ The minister went on to add: ‘Since the government has shares in the company, it is imperative that it be involved in transactions regarding the sale. The shares we hold in the company are assets that ensure our role is not underestimated.’

Bharti has taken over Zain’s operations in 15 countries: Burkina Faso, Chad, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The Kuwaiti company’s subsidiaries in Morocco and Sudan were not included in the sale.

KDN Expands Into Six Countries

Kenya Data Networks (KDN) has expanded its network reach to six major countries in sub-Saharan Africa, enabling it to deliver cost effective services to Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and Malawi. This year KDN is expanding its subscriber base which is prevalent in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, and Eldoret to provide high-quality broadband services to customers in the cities and rural areas of Kenya.

KDN has said that it aims to reach 80% of Kenyans with its data networks by the end of 2010.

Vodafone & CWN Take Case To Belgium

 It was announced yesterday that warring shareholders Vodacom of South Africa and its partner Congolese Wireless Network (CWN) had been unable to reach an agreement concerning their joint venture in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Now arbitration proceedings will be lodged under International Chamber of Commerce rules in Brussels. Bob Collymore, chief officer corporate affairs with Vodacom South African said, ‘We stand ready to fund further expansion and are hopeful that the arbitration process will bring a positive result.’

The disagreement between the two companies was exacerbated in recent months when Vodacom proposed a capital injection of USD484million, which would have diluted CWN's shares in Vodacom Congo. CWN refused the injection point blank and instead, earlier this week, proposed a liquidation or sell-off to a third party of Vodacom Congo, which Vodacom in turn rejected.

Vodacom Congo, which began operations in 2002, is 51% owned by Vodacom, the African mobile network operator majority owned by Vodafone Group PLC, and the remainder by CWN.

Azur Gabon Extends Billing Contract With Redknee

Redknee, a provider of billing and charging software and solutions, has received a new contract for an extended implementation of its converged billing and airtime-selling solutions by Gabon’s newest mobile operator, USAN Gabon (Azur).

Redknee says its turnkey solutions deliver a functionally rich platform that extends beyond basic rating, charging and billing models, enabling operators to differentiate their service offerings and launch creative promotions and incentives to their customers. A key feature is Redknee's Airtime Reseller, which enables voucherless, pre-paid wireless airtime top-up.

Azur is a subsidiary of Bintel, which is registered in Dubai but headquartered in Bahrain, and has a focus on emerging markets, with subsidiaries in the Central African Republic, Somaliland, Gabon and The Republic of the Congo, and it also holds a majority stake in Swiss-based firm Telesonique.

Vodacom Q3 Revenues Up 6%

South African Vodacom Group has reported group revenues of ZAR15.43 billion (USD2.03 billion) for the three months ended 31 December 2009, up 6% from ZAR14.56 billion in the same period a year earlier. The company attributed revenue growth to the January 2009 acquisition of Gateway Communications and a 33.1% year-on-year growth in data revenues. Group data revenue was ZAR1.19 billion for the final three months of 2009, with the company’s domestic operation accounting for ZAR1.16 billion of the total.

Pieter Uys, CEO of Vodacom, said: ‘This has been a positive quarter for Vodacom, featuring solid overall revenue growth and continued progress in building our data business. Despite a challenging economic environment, our South African business posted a 7.5% increase in revenue. The actions we have taken in our international businesses have shown positive results in the form of improved market positioning. Cost management programmes are also gaining momentum and should provide the basis for improved margin management in the year ahead. Careful allocation of capital to investment projects has resulted in continued strong growth in cash flows.’

The group ended 2009 with a consolidated mobile customer base of 40.5 million, a 9.5% year-on-year growth. Vodacom South Africa accounted for 67% of the total with 27.1 million subscribers, up from 26.45 million a year earlier. Three of the company’s international operations also reported year-on-year customer growth. The firm’s Tanzania, Mozambique and Lesotho-based subsidiaries saw their customer bases grow by 28.4%, 61.1% and 30.9% respectively. Growth in other operations helped offset a 12.9% decline in Vodacom’s Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) subscriber base, which stood at 3.52 million following a change in disconnection policy from 215 to 90 inactive days.

Essar Acquires GSM Licence in Uganda

A unit of Essar Group has won a licence in Uganda to build a USD 200 million GSM phone network, India's Mint newspaper reported. Unlisted Essar Teleholdings, which obtained a similar licence in Kenya last year, will own 90 percent of the venture, the paper said, quoting a group official.

The company said it has paid USD 3 million for frequency charges to the Uganda Communication Commission and will launch the service in August in a joint venture with Kenyan Telecom Uganda, a local telecom company. It quoted Srinivasa Iyengar, managing director of Essar Telecom Kenya.

Uganda has six mobile phone operators, of which MTN is the market leader with a 45 percent share. Essar Teleholdings has also decided to bid for licences in Tanzania, Congo and Cameroon, the paper said.

Africell Now Part of Convergys Agreement

Convergys says that the Lintel Group has extended its preferred supplier relationship to provide prepaid and value-added services obtained from Convergys’ acquisition of Intervoice to Lintel’s mobile customers in West Africa. The Lintel Group provides GSM telecommunications services under the Africell name to more than 1.3 million subscribers in Sierra Leone and Gambia and has a nine-year relationship with Convergys.
Through its Relationship Technology Management business unit, Convergys is implementing additional licensing capacity and features to the Lintel Group’s prepaid platforms in Sierra Leone and Gambia to support subscriber growth and enhance the customer experience.
“Our partnership with Convergys has been one of continuous expansion over the years. Today, we are working together to solve the welcome issue of significant growth within the mobile markets the Lintel Group serves in Sierra Leone and Gambia,” said Ziad Dalloul, CEO and Chairman of the Lintel Group.
Africell Holding, Africell Gambia, Africell Sierra Leone, Africell RDC (Congo DRC), and Linfra are among Lintel group subsidiaries.

Vodacom Reports Growth in Subscribers, Revenues

Mobile phone operator Ton Tuesday reported that increased subscriber numbers, largely from non-South African operations, boosted the group’s revenues to R40,5-billion in the nine months ended December 2008.

This was a 13,7% increase in revenue when compared with the prior year.

An overall 14,3% lift in customers took Vodacom’s subscriber numbers to 37,8-million. Some 30%, or 11,3-million, of these subscribers where outside of South Africa, as the company continued its aggressive drive to grow subscriber numbers further into Africa.

"Expanding our African footprint beyond South Africa is one of the pillars of Vodacom’s growth strategy. I’m pleased to say that this quarter we reached an important milestone, with 30% of our total customer base now coming from our operations in Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho and Mozambique,” said Vodacom group CEO Pieter Uys.

Mobile customers from Vodacom’s non-South African operations increased by 8,4% to 11,3-million at December 2008, from 10,4-million at September 2008.