Vodafone denies rumours of £19bn African bid

Vodafone denies rumours of £19bn African bid

Vodafone yesterday flatly denied speculation that it is looking to mount an audacious £19bn bid for Africa's largest mobile phone operator MTN, which has operations spanning South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda, as well as several countries in the Middle East.

Talk of Vodafone's interest had been sparked by news last week that India's largest mobile operator Bharti Airtel has held exploratory talks with MTN about a tie-up. A spokesman for Vodafone said yesterday: "We have no intention of pursuing a bid for MTN."

The news comes as African telecoms industry leaders gather in Cairo this week for the International Telecommunication Union's Telecom Africa conference, to discuss ways in which the continent can improve its communications.

There are now more than 250 million mobile phone customers across the continent and the lack of basic fixed-line infrastructure has made mobile phones very attractive. African countries such as Nigeria are among the fastest-growing mobile markets on the planet, but in other areas penetration remains very low.

Buying MTN, in which the former prime minister of Lebanon Najib Mikati and his family have a 10% stake, would have been the largest deal done by Vodafone's chief executive Arun Sarin since he took over from Sir Christopher Gent six years ago. Despite deciding not to wade into the fight over MTN, Vodafone is very interested in Africa, where it has businesses in Egypt and Kenya as well as involvement in several sub-Saharan states as a result of its shareholding in South Africa's Vodacom.

Last year Vodafone hoped to be able to increase its stake in Vodacom, which has operations in South Africa, Tanzania, Congo, Lesotho and Mozambique, after its partner in the venture, Telkom, announced merger talks with MTN.

A deal would have led to a break-up of Telkom, the former South African phone monopoly in which the government still has a substantial stake. It would have allowed Vodafone to buy out Telkom's 50% share of Vodacom. Vodafone would not have had full control, as it would have sold on a small stake to black investors to comply with the South African government's black-empowerment project.

In November the talks between Telkom and MTN collapsed, dashing Vodafone's ambitions. It remains hopeful that a deal can still be done in the long term.