MTN South Africa has reportedly been in discussions with Egypt’s Orascom Telecom, over purchasing its African mobile operations on the continent.
MTN has shown interest in Orascom’s assets in Algeria, Burundi, Central Africa Republic, Tunisia, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
Contacted by ITNewsAfrica.com, Nozipho January-Bardill, MTN Group Executive: Corporate Affairs, said “In line with its vision to be the leading provider of telecommunications services in emerging markets, the MTN Group continues to seek value-accretive expansion opportunities in emerging markets. MTN cannot comment on specific corporate activity.”
According to the Financial Times, the operator on Friday confirmed the transaction talks, not mentioning the operator/s involved in the discussions.
MTN’s move on Orascom is the carrier’s fourth attempt to secure a deal with an international operator. The Egyptian operator currently has a market capitalization of $7bn.
The company failed three times to secure deals with Indian operators, twice with Bharti Airtel, India’s largest operator, who have now concluded a $10.7bn deal to buy the African operations of the Kuwaiti telecoms company, Zain. MTN also entered into talks with another Indian operator, Reliance Communications, in 2008, without a successful outcome.
