{"id":46706,"date":"2013-09-27T12:39:56","date_gmt":"2013-09-27T10:39:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=46706"},"modified":"2013-09-27T12:49:24","modified_gmt":"2013-09-27T10:49:24","slug":"vodacom-neotel-deal-pegged-at-r5-billion-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/mobile\/46706\/vodacom-neotel-deal-pegged-at-r5-billion-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Vodacom, Neotel deal pegged at R5 billion: report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vodacom has reportedly entered into exclusive negotations to acquire Neotel for R5 billion (US$502 million), Bloomberg reported.<\/p>\n

According to Bloomberg, Neotel parent company, Tata Communication acquired a further 2.5% stake in the operator last year, valued at R149 million (US$14.9 million).<\/p>\n

This makes Neotel worth R5.9 billion (US$596 million), Bloomberg said.<\/p>\n

Neotel\u2019s current shareholders are Tata Communications (68.5%), Nexus Connection (19%) and Communitel (12.5%).<\/p>\n

SA news site, MyBroadband first reported in May that Neotel was in the acquisition cross-hairs of mobile operators, Vodacom and MTN, citing industry sources close to the matter.<\/p>\n

It was reported soon after that MTN had dropped out of the potential negotiations, leaving only Vodacom in the running.<\/p>\n

Vodacom has been in advanced discussions to seal the deal since August, sources have said.<\/p>\n

\"Shameel<\/a>

Shameel Joosub<\/p><\/div>\n

Why buy Neotel?<\/h3>\n

Speaking on CNBC Africa, Vodacom CEO, Shameel Joosub said that he sees enterprise services as one of the biggest growth opportunities in South Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a big opportunity [for Vodacom] to capture more of the fixed [telecoms] space,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to analysts and commentators, Vodacom acquiring Neotel would provice the operator with an established fibre network – which is already geared towards serving enterprise clients – as well as access to valuable 800Mhz spectrum, suitable for the further rollout of LTE.<\/p>\n

Vodacom, Neotel and Tata Communications have repeatedly declined to comment on the matter.<\/p>\n

In May, Neotel CEO, Sunil Joshi announced that the group had achieved its first operating profit since it launched in the country in 2006.<\/p>\n

Joshi said that the group had turned earnings before interest and taxes positive for the year ended March 2013, having first reported its ebitda positive status in 2012.<\/p>\n

(USD 1 = ZAR 9.98)<\/p>\n

More on Neotel and Vodacom<\/h3>\n

Vodacom CEO\u2019s strategy explains Neotel acquisition plans<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Why buy Neotel?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Vodacom last man standing in Neotel acquisition?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Vodacom tight-lipped over Neotel rumour<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Vodacom, MTN courting Neotel purchase<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Vodacom closer to Neotel purchase: sources<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vodacom has reportedly entered into exclusive negotations to acquire Neotel for R5 billion (US$502 million), Bloomberg reported.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":43700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[185,26,261,3403,2898,27],"class_list":["post-46706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mobile","tag-acquisition","tag-headline","tag-neotel","tag-shameel-joosub","tag-sunil-joshi","tag-vodacom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46706"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46727,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46706\/revisions\/46727"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}