telecommunications — english language news service
09.07.2008« [telecommunications — телекоммуникация — telekommunikation]
south africa — mtn and reliance extend exclusive talks
South Africa’s MTN Group says it is extending its exclusive talks with India’s Reliance Communications over a possible merger. The original 45-day exclusivity period now ends on 21 July. Though negotiations have been taking place for some weeks, the future of a deal is still up in the air, with MTN thought to be wary of signing a deal which may result in legal action. A deal between MTN and Reliance Communications is being challenged by a third firm, Reliance Industries Ltd, which claims to have first refusal on a sale of Reliance Communications shares. The two Reliance firms are held by brothers Anil and Mukesh Ambani. A merger of MTN and Reliance would create an entity with assets across Africa, Asia and the Middle East and more than 110 million subscribers in over 20 countries.
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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