Last year, it was revealed that Neotel and Vodacom were entering into exclusive talks for a due diligence. Today, Neotel and Vodacom SA have announced that they have favourably concluded an agreement on the commercial structure and terms to proceed for Vodacom to acquire 100 per cent of the shares of Neotel valued at an enterprise value of R 7.0 billion, subject to regulatory and competition authority approvals.
Commenting pn the transaction, Sunil Joshi, MD & CEO of Neotel said, “We are encouraged at the progress made to date and will focus now on ensuring compliance with the regulatory approvals processes and the engagement with the competition authorities. Neotel continues to grow in the South African market and with this, when approved, will enable a greater choice of product and services for our customers and increased competition, while Neotel continues to deliver improved services and grows its customer base.“
Speaking about the transaction, Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub said: “Through the combination of these two businesses, the provision of a wider range of business services and much needed consumer services like fibre-to-the-business and fibre-to-the-home becomes a concrete reality – it will be good for the consumer, good for business and good for the country. And for our investors, the transaction fits perfectly within the priorities of Vodacom’s growth strategy focused on continuing our investment in data and our Enterprise business.”
Neotel, which started operations in 2007, is the second largest provider of fixed telecommunications services for both businesses (commonly referred to as enterprise services) and consumers in South Africa. The company has access to over 15,000 km of fibre-optic cable, including 8,000 km of metro fibre in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. Neotel also has access to 2 x 12 MHz of 1800 MHz spectrum, 2 x 5 MHz of 800 MHz spectrum and 2 x 28 MHz of 3.5 GHz spectrum.
Staff writer
