Having missed the executive exodus that took place last week, Phuthuma Nhleko, group president and chief executive of African carrier MTN chose to kick this week off by announcing plans to depart after eight years at the helm.
The prospect of consolidation among African and Middle Eastern operators has provided much fuel for the industry rumour mill in 2009, but the apparent collapse of talks involving the disposal of Zain Africa as well as those between Bharti and MTN has not diminished the appetite for expansion.
Belgacom’s International Carrier Services (ICS) division has extended its long standing partnership with pan-African carrier MTN, with the combination of the two firms ICS units and MTN’s acquisition of a stake in Belgacom ICS.
Mozambique is one of the poorest countries in the world. It is still emerging from the after-effects of almost two decades of civil war that devastated its infrastructure and economy.
A marriage that had the potential to be one of the most influential matches in the industry has been called off, with the parents of the bride-to-be clearly unimpressed by the quality of her suitor. Indian carrier Bharti Airtel’s attempts to woo African regional specialist MTN have come to nought, with the South African government, MTN’s biggest shareholder, understood to have put the kybosh on the whole affair.
Merger talks between emerging markets giants Bharti and MTN have been called off once again, after the two firms failed to convince the South African government – MTN’s biggest shareholder – on the benefits of the deal.
Progress on the region’s big M&A deals – the prospective sale of Zain Africa or a stake in Zain; and the cash and share-swap deal between Bharti and MTN – appears to have stalled. There has been such confusion in the past few days over the possible sale of a large stake in Zain to an Indo-Malaysian consortium that it is at risk of descending into a debacle.
Merger talks between India’s largest carrier, Bharti Airtel, and pan-MEA operator MTN have been extended by an extra month, suggesting an agreement may be in the pipeline.
West & Central Africa Com 2009
The telecoms market in West and Central Africa remains vibrant, but the message from last week’s West & Central Africa Com conference, organized in Abuja, Nigeria, by Informa Telecoms & Media, is that business is getting tougher for operators as a consequence of slowing growth rates, increasing competition and falling ARPUs, and the global economic slowdown.
Great article James and I agree that mobile social network is huge for smartphone and data adoption and drives by ...
Indeed I did Wardell. Amended.
"Then again, the BlackBerry is not a Google-branded device so perhaps this is par for the course."
Did you mean the ...
Join the EFF ;-)
Well, I tell you Orascom is a very successful company, whereever it operats it creats jobs and growth aroond it. ...
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