Kuwait’s Zain Group has said it is eyeing a mobile licence which could become available in South Africa next year. The country already has three established operators – Vodacom, MTN and Cell-C – who were sharing almost 45.4 million subscribers at the end of March 2008. A report from Reuters cites Zain Africa’s CEO Chris Gabriel, who says: ‘We are interested in the South African market and we heard reports about a fourth mobile licence coming up.’ He adds: ‘If there is an opportunity we will definitely consider it.’ Last month, Khotso Khumalo, the chairman of the country’s parliamentary portfolio committee, told journalists at a media briefing that the government will license a fourth mobile operator and a third fixed line operator in 2009 though no further details have been revealed.
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Vodacom Tanzania says that to date, it has invested around USD2 billion in the country to expand its networks and services and will continue to invest there to reach more people – particularly those living in rural parts of Tanzania. Dar es Salaam-based newspaper The Citizen quotes Vodacom managing director Dietlof Mare as saying that the cellco is determined to expand its network in order to serve more people, and is keen to connect as many as possible to its 3G/3.5G networks.
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UK-based Vodafone Group, which currently holds a 50% share of South African mobile operator Vodacom, is looking to purchase a further 12.5%% of the company from Telkom South Africa which currently holds the other 50%. Vodafone has been trying to oust Telkom as the joint owner and gain greater control over the direction that Vodacom moves in for some time. Vodafone has reportedly offered USD2.5 billion for the additional 12.5%, on the condition that Telkom releases its remaining 37.5% by unbundling those shares to its shareholders.
A consortium led by the black investment group Mvelaphanda has expressed an interest in acquiring Telkom’s fixed line interests but wants it to dispose of its stake in Vodacom first, making the Vodafone deal seem more likely at this time.
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Vodacom Tanzania yesterday launched 3G services in the northern city of Arusha, offering subscribers access to high speed internet connectivity. In February 2007 Vodacom Tanzania launched 3.5G services in the capital Dar es Salaam, offering broadband speed on the move via an HSDPA data card. The service has since been rolled out in Dodoma, the third biggest city in the country and capital of the Dodoma region.
In February 2006 the Tanzanian cellco’s parent company Vodacom Group revealed plans to launch a 3.5G network in Tanzania before the end of the year, but the rollout took longer than expected and it was not until September that year that Siemens won a supply contract for the new network. In November 2006 Vodacom Tanzania updated its rollout programme, saying it would now begin deploying a 3.5G network from the start of 2007. At the time the company’s Chief Operating Officer Pieter Uys said the cellco was experiencing increased demand for data services from its existing customer base, and had seen revenue from data-based services rising by 30% in 2006, to ZAR65 million (USD9.1 million).
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Arun Sarin is to step down as Vodafone’s CEO after five years of leading the world’s largest mobile phone operator by revenue. The 53 year old will leave the company on 29 July and will be succeeded by 46 year old Vittorio Colao, currently the operator’s deputy CEO and head of European operations.
It’s been a bumpy ride for Sarin, who has had to face down share holders’ revolts, but he is leaving on a high note: Vodafone has just reported a 14% rise in revenue over the last financial year. Income rose to £35.5 billion (€44 billion) for 2007-2008, producing an adjusted operating profit of £10.1 billion (€12.57 billion) and free cash flow of £5.5 billion (€6.8 billion).
This perhaps explains his apparent change of heart. Earlier he had striven to quell any suggestion that he would leave his post this year.
“We have made strong progress over the past year with our strategy and met or exceeded our stated financial expectations in all areas,” Mr Sarin said in a statement, reported in the Financial Times, highlighting an 11% increase in adjusted earnings per share.
The article also quoted Sarin saying, “I felt the time was right for me to hand over at this time… I have achieved what I set out to achieve on becoming CEO and therefore felt the timing was right now.”
Sarin claimed to be “delighted” that Colao would succeed him. The challenges confronting Colao, he said, would include the global economic slowdown, regulatory pressures and new entrants seeking to exploit the mobile internet, according to the Financial Times.
Others include Vodafone’s ongoing struggle to gain total control of the Vodacom, South Africa’s largest mobile operator. Vodafone already owns 50%, but the rest is held by Telkom, South Africa’s leading fixed line operator, which in turn is controlled by the state. Vodafone’s stake in US operator Verizon is also a source of contention among some shareholders who want Vodafone to divest itself of its holding.
Colao has been Vodafone’s deputy chief executive since September 2006. He was a partner at McKinsey before joining Omnitel, Italy’s second-largest mobile phone operator, which Vodafone acquired in 2000. He left Vodafone briefly to become CEO of Italian publishing group RCS MediaGroup, the Italian publishing company.
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Vodacom Group Ltd., South Africa’s biggest mobile-phone operator, said subscriber numbers rose 13 percent in the year through March.
Subscribers increased to 34 million in the year, the company, jointly owned by Telkom South Africa Ltd. and Vodafone Group Plc, said in a statement to Johannesburg’s Stock Exchange News Service today. Revenue climbed 17 percent to 48.2 billion rand ($6.26 billion).
Further details will be released at the company’s annual results presentation on June 9, the company said.
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Zanzibar Telecom (Zantel), a 51%-owned subsidiary of Emirates Telecommunications Corp (Etisalat), hopes to capture as much as 35% of the domestic mobile market by 2011 on the back of rising economic growth in the country, reports Reuters citing a company spokesman as saying. According to Zantel’s Chief Financial Officer Arthur Hudson, the group currently has roughly 10% of the market, equivalent to around a million users, but hopes to increase this to reach 30% to 35% of the market in the next two to three years. ‘There is huge growth potential in Tanzania with only 20% market penetration,’ he said. Hudson went on to say that the operator, currently the smallest Tanzanian cellco by subscribers behind Vodacom, Celtel and MIC Tanzania (Tigo), is halfway to completing a USD100 million network upgrade designed to provide access to 2.2 million customers by 2009. In phase two of the expansion project, Zantel’s CFO said the company would spend a similar amount again to boost network capacity to five million users.
By the end of March 2008 Vodacom was the largest mobile operator in Tanzania with an estimated four million customers, up from 3.87 million at the start of the year, followed by Celtel Tanzania with 2.59 million, Tigo (1.45 million) and Zantel, with a million. More than nine of out ten Tanzanians are now reported to have access to a mobile phone, even if not one of their own, by using public wireless payphone alternatives such as Vodacom’s People’s Phone service.
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Vodafone Group Plc said it will not be bidding for MTN Group Ltd., a mobile-phone company in Africa and the Middle East, the Financial Times reported, citing an unidentified spokesman.
We have no intention of pursuing an offer for MTN,'’ the spokesman said, according to the FT.
Unidentified people familiar with the matter said they could not definitely say that Vodafone would not decide to make an offer for MTN in the future, but that it was unlikely, the newspaper said.
The U.K. mobile phone company last week assessed the idea of making an offer for MTN after Bharti Airtel Ltd. made an informal bid for a controlling share, the FT said.
The Vodafone spokesman said the company is interested in increasing its stake in Vodacom Group Ltd., South Africa’s largest mobile phone company, which it owns 50-50 with Telkom South Africa Ltd., according to the newspaper.
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The UK-based cellular operator Vodafone has ruled out making a bid for South Africa’s MTN Group. A Vodafone spokesperson told The Financial Times: ‘We have no intention of pursuing an offer for MTN.’ Last week it was reported that the UK giant was considering making a move for MTN, which has cellular operations across Africa and the Middle East. This followed an informal bid from India’s Bharti Airtel. Vodafone has reaffirmed its commitment to its existing South African operation, Vodacom, and says it is looking to increase its stake in the company to above the current level of 50% to give it more management control.
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Africa surpasses North America in terms of mobile subscribers; WCDMA rollouts well under way.
The number of mobile phone users in Africa exceeded 280 million in the first quarter of this year and will reach the 300 million mark next month, according to Wireless Intelligence.
As a result, the continent has surpassed North America in terms of mobile subscriber numbers, with the U.S. and Canada together having 277 million users, the company said in a report published Thursday.
In the year to the end of March Africa counted 70 million new subscriber additions, up from 60 million the previous year, and cemented its status as the world’s fastest growing mobile market. It recorded 38% growth in 2007, putting it ahead of the Middle East with 33% and Asia Pacific with 29%.
All eyes will be on the rollout and take-up of high-speed mobile services this year.
Wireless Intelligence predicts that the adoption of services based on WCDMA will be slow, with network coverage and the price of handsets constituting the two biggest barriers to growth.
There are currently 19 WCDMA networks in service in Africa, with a further six planned, while operational HSPA networks number 14, with another five in deployment and three planned.
Wireless Intelligence estimates that subscribers to WCDMA and HSPA-based services passed the two million mark in early 2008, a number it says will double by the end of the year. In addition, it predicts HPSA customers alone will reach 1 million by the fourth quarter.
As the most advanced market in the region, it comes as no surprise that South Africa accounts for three of its WCDMA networks.
The country’s three operators, Vodacom, MTN and Cell C, have all launched WCDMA networks and connections are estimated to have reached 1.2 million by the end of 2007.
MTN has revealed data traffic in South Africa is “becoming significant”, the research firm said, and reported that non-SMS revenues represented 37% of its total data revenue in the fourth quarter of last year. Vodacom and MTN are expanding their WCDMA network coverage and introducing data bundles.
Vodacom leads the South African market with more than 24 million subscribers and a 57% market share. MTN has around 10 million fewer customers and claims 34% of the 44 million-strong market.
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Zain interested in SA licence (South Africa)
