Vodacom has announced that its deal to acquire fixed telco group Neotel has fallen through.<\/p>\n
In a voluntary update on the deal, the mobile operator said that a restructured agreement between the parties could no longer progressed, after it missed its deadline to finalise it.<\/p>\n
The group says it ran into regularity troubles as well as “certain conditions” being unfilled in the agreement.<\/p>\n
Vodacom originally agreed to buy Neotel from Tata Communications in May 2014. The deal was slowed down by competition inquiries, while Telkom and MTN appealed against the merger.<\/p>\n
The group\u00a0subsequently restructured its deal, where it would acquire all of Neotel\u2019s assets related to its fixed line business \u2013 excluding spectrum licences \u2013 and Neotel would then offer roaming agreements to all South African operators, including Vodacom<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is disappointing that we have reached this conclusion despite all our efforts to find a way to deal with the complexities of the restructured transaction,” said Vodacom CEO, Shameel Joosub.<\/p>\n
“Our ambition to increase the rollout of fibre-based broadband services to customers remains. We will continue to look for spectrum opportunities, as well as opportunities to accelerate our fixed line business,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Vodacom Neotel deal back in the spotlight<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0MTN raises concern over Vodacom-Neotel deal<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n