South Africa: Telkom backs off from Cell C acquisition

Telkom South Africa has released an official statement to say that they would not be going forward with their plans to fully acquire rival network, Cell C after the two operators failed to agree on a price for the sale.

Cell C, South Africa’s third-largest mobile operator, has about 22 million subscribers and has Dubai-based Oger Telecom as its major shareholder.

Telkom is 40% owned by the South African government and has operations in more than 38 countries across the African continent. Its mobile subsidiary, Telkom Mobile, was launched in October 2010 and had about 2 million subscribers as at 2014. It was looking to expand its mobile operations in South Africa with the planned acquisition of Cell C.