03/01/2009 17:23 - (SA)
Vodacom completes R7bn acquisition of Gateway
SOUTH African mobile operator Vodacom says it has completed the purchase of African network and satellite services firm Gateway for $700 million (R6.8 billion).
The deal will help Vodacom – expected to become majority owned by Britain’s Vodafone Group this year – to reposition itself as a provider of converged communication services rather than as a pure mobile phone operator.
Vodafone, which owns 50 percent of Vodacom, is finalising the purchase of a further 15 percent from Telkom for R22.5 billion.
The Gateway transaction includes Gateway’s core carrier and business network units which provide satellite, business and interconnect services to African and multinational companies in 40 countries, but not its broadcasting division.
“As mobile phone penetration levels increase in South Africa, we are actively repositioning Vodacom as a total communications provider with new avenues for growth,” Vodacom CE Pieter Uys said this week.
Gateway is Africa’s largest independent provider of interconnection services via satellite and the terrestrial network infrastructure, and had sales of close to $257 million in the year to the end of December.
Uys said the Gateway brand would be retained and managed as an independent entity.
Vodacom Group will be listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange this year, once the Vodafone deal to buy an additional stake has been completed.
As part of the deal, the Vodacom identity will remain visible on the African continent and it will be the exclusive investment vehicle through which Vodafone will continue to make its acquisitions in sub-Saharan Africa, excluding Ghana and Kenya, where Vodafone is already operating. – Reuters
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