telecommunications — english language news service
07.07.2008« [telecommunications — телекоммуникация — telekommunikation]
south africa — ambani altercation a turn-off for mtn
According to the Financial Times, South Africa’s MTN is considering walking away from a tie-up with Reliance Communications (RCOM) because of fears an acrimonious spat between the Indian telecom operator’s owner and his brother could leave the deal open to legal action. A person familiar with the talks on Sunday said he expected MTN and Reliance to extend their exclusive talks for another two to three weeks after a 45-day period expires on Tuesday. However, there is no indication that extra time alone would be sufficient to resolve the feud between Anil Ambani, the billionaire industrialist who is Reliance’s controlling shareholder, and his brother Mukesh.
Reliance and MTN are aiming to create one of the world’s largest emerging markets telecoms operators with 115 million subscribers in Africa, the Middle East and India. Under the deal, MTN would acquire Reliance. But Anil Ambani would take control of MTN by swapping most of his 66% stake in the Indian mobile operator for shares in MTN. Together with investment from private equity and sovereign wealth funds, he would end up with a stake of between 50%-51% in the South African operator. This controlling shareholding in MTN would enable Anil Ambani to rebuff the claim from Reliance Industries, controlled by his elder brother Mukesh, that it has a right of first refusal over RCOM. There are mounting fears, however, that none of the myriad deal structures under discussion would sufficiently insulate the combined company from Mukesh’s lawyers, leading to the South African firm’s apparent change of heart.
Source: TeleGeography's CommsUpdate
mtn group
MTN Group Limited (MTN Group) is a provider of communication services, offering cellular network access and business solutions. The Company operates in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East. During the year ended December 31, 2006, it recorded more than 40 million subscribers across its operations. MTN Groups operating regions in South and East Africa includes MTN South Africa, MTN Swaziland, MTN Zambia, MTN Uganda, MTN Rwanda and Mascom Botswana. Its operating regions in West and Central Africa includes MTN Nigeria, MTN Cameroon, MTN Congo-Brazzaville, MTN Cote dIvoire, MTN Benin, MTN Ghana, MTN Guinea Bissau, MTN Guinea and MTN Liberia. The Companys operating regions in Middle East and North Africa MTN Irancell and MTN Afghanistan, MTN Cyprus, MTN Sudan, MTN Syria, MTN Yemen and Mednet. MTN Group holds 49% of MTN Irancell with the balance held by the Iran Electronic Development Company. This Greenfield operation was launched on October 21, 2006.
reliance communications
Reliance Communications Limited is an integrated telecommunications service provider. Reliance Communications Limited has established a pan-India, next generation, integrated (wireless and wireline), convergent (voice, data and video) digital network that is capable of supporting services spanning the entire infocomm value chain, covering over 15,000 towns and 400,000 villages. Reliance Communications owns and operates a next-generation Internet protocol (IP)-enabled connectivity infrastructure, comprising over 165,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable systems in India, United States, Europe, Middle East and the Asia Pacific region. The Company has a customer base of 50 million, including over 1.5 million individual overseas retail customers. Its corporate clientele includes 1850 Indian and multinational corporations, and over 250 global carriers. The Company is the flagship company of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. In April 2008, the Company acquired a 90% in eWave World Ltd.
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