Vodacom to Reinforce Bid for GT

Information reaching the Chronicle indicates that after the government of Ghana had rejected all of the bids it received for the privatisation of Ghana Telecom for a controlling stake of at least 51%, Vodacom is reinforcing its bid by preparing a new offer.

The offer according to sources is expected to be above $500 million.

Portugal Telecom had been very confident in a positive outcome and was competing directly against France Telecom.

GT was due to have been privatised at the end of 2007 and Singapore Telecom, Vodacom, and Portugal Telecom had competed for it. It transpired that most of the potential investors had baulked at paying more than US$500mn for the stake.

Vodacom is a pan-African cellular communications company providing a world-class GSM service to millions of customers in South Africa, Tanzania, Lesotho, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Vodacom's South African operations also offer a UMTS or 3G service.

Vodacom is the market leader in South Africa, with more than 5700 base stations around the country ensuring in excess of 95% of South Africans are within the coverage area of its impressive cellular network. Ecobank Development Corporation (EDC) and Societe Generale are the transactional advisors for Ghana for the privatization.