Ghana on Vodafone’s radar

Vodafone looks set to secure a deal for a majority stake in Ghana Telecom (GT) for US$960 million this week, following ongoing talks with the Ghanaian government over its fixed-line, mobile and Internet services company.

Ghana Telecom has an estimated 1.3 million mobile subscribers and a 15.5 per cent market share.
Image: Ferdinand Reus

Communications minister Benjamin Aggrey Ntim told local newspapers that a new owner of GT would be announced in the first week of July, adding that Vodafone was the only firm left negotiating with government.

If concluded, Vodafone’s 66.7 per cent share of the incumbent would continue the mobile operator’s recent strategy of acquiring not only pure mobile assets, but fixed-line operations as well.

Vodafone is one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies with 260 million subscribers as of March 2008. Last October Vodafone acquired Tele2 Italy and Tele2 Spain, which provide fixed-line voice and broadband services.

State-owned GT had been tabled for privatisation since last year, with France Telecom initially winning a bid for a 51 per cent stake ahead of Vodacom South Africa and Portugal Telecom, However, the government pulled out of the deal on the basis the US$520 million offer was considered too low.

According to figures from the Mobile World database, Ghana Telecom ended the last quarter with an estimated 1.3 million mobile subscribers and a market share of 15.5 per cent. The other mobile operators are MTN (53 per cent), Tigo (28.6 per cent) and Kasapa Telecom (3.3 per cent).