telecommunications — english language news service
15.05.2008« [telecommunications — телекоммуникация — telekommunikation]
mozambique — vodacom increases home ownership
Mozambique's Whatana Investments has taken a 5% stake worth USD10 million in Vodacom Mozambique (VM), a subsidiary of South African mobile giant Vodacom. Speaking from South Africa, Alan Knott-Craig, CEO of the Vodacom Group, said the deal was part of its strategy to ‘create a truly Mozambican company’. When VM began operations in 2003, 98% of its shares were held by Vodacom, and only 2% by Mozambican investors. The local holding has now increased to 15%, and Vodacom has said it plans further sales soon, although it intends to stay the majority shareholder, retaining just over 50%.
Following the announcement of the sale, VM revealed plans to invest USD50 million expanding its reach into more rural areas with new base stations. The cellco is currently one of two mobile phone operators in the country, alongside mCel. In February VM’s market share had risen to 40% with around 1.5 million subscribers while mCel had around 2.25 million subscribers.
Source: TeleGeography's CommsUpdate
vodacom
Vodacom is a pan-African mobile telecommunications company, and was the first cellular network in South Africa. It provides GSM service to more than 30.2 million customers in South Africa, Tanzania, Lesotho, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is owned on a 50:50 basis by the South African telecommunications group is Telkom and the British mobile phone operator Vodafone. Vodacom is the leading cellular network in South Africa with an estimated market share of 58% and more than 23 million customers. Vodacom was also the first provider to deploy a 3G (third generation) or UMTS network in South Africa and is also offering HSDPA.
vodacom mozambique
Vodacom Mozambique is a GSM operator. The company's network covers all major cities and provincial capitals, many other smaller towns as well as main road coverage. Vodacom Group has the majority stake in Vodacom Mozambique with local partners Emotel, Intelec Holdings, Lda a consortium of local business people and public figures.
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