Vodacom’s acquisition plans
Romeo Kumalo, chief officer of international business at Vodacom says that the group is eying new assets in Africa.
“There are lots of interesting new markets we are looking at, but the valuations aren’t right,” the executive told BusinessTech.
Vodacom has an agreement with parent company, Vodafone, to stick within Sub-Saharan Africa.
Vodacom’s current territories include Tanzania, DRC, Mozambique and Lesotho, as well as South Africa.
Kumalo said that Vodacom targets have included Warid Telecom in Ethiopia, where it has just opened up an office, and Uganda.
Uganda and Ethiopia are markets where Vodacom’s competitor, MTN Group, is already active.
Vodacom entered the Ethiopian market in December 2013, saying at the time that “Ethiopia is probably the most fantastic telecoms market on the continent,” with one operator, 80 million people, and the economy growing at 7%.
MTN has operations in over 21 countries – many of them spread across the African continent – with Nigeria operating as one of the group’s largest markets.
“Nigeria is still a market where we would like to be,” Kumalo said, but added that “the price isn’t right at the moment”.
Kumalo noted further that there were still opportunities for consolidation in its current markets.
“Everyday I get a call from someone offering me a license,” he said, but pointed to the company’s strict merger and acquisition policies.
“There are assets that we want, but the valuation is not where we want it to be.”
International currently makes up 22% of Vodacom’s service revenue. Kumalo says the group hopes to ramp that up to 30% over the next three to four years.
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