Vodacom to sell some operations in five African markets

South African mobile phone operator Vodacom Group Ltd said on Friday it had entered into agreements to sell some of its Business Africa operations, which offer business-managed services to enterprises.

Vodacom, which is majority-owned by Vodafone Group Plc, said it had agreed to sell the Angolan assets of its Business Africa unit to Internet Technologies Angola.

It has also agreed to sell Business Africa’s operations in Nigeria, Zambia and Ivory Coast to Synergy Communications and to Vodafone Ghana in Ghana, it said.

Through Vodacom Business Africa, the company said it offers business-managed services to enterprises in 50 countries.

“In each of the five Vodacom Business Africa markets, the respective partners will acquire all of the operations and assets held by Vodacom,” the company said in a statement, adding that the financial terms were confidential. Vodacom said it would no longer directly service global enterprise customers in the five markets covered in the agreements, but would continue to operate as a telecommunications network provider through local service provider agreements.

Core business,

“The transactions support Vodacom Group’s enterprise strategy in Africa, which has been refocused to grow and strengthen its core business,” the company said.

A Vodacom spokeswoman could not immediately provide more details on the reasoning behind the disposals of the operations.

In the year ended March 31, enterprise service revenue contributed 23% to group service revenue, with 77 per cent of the revenue coming from consumer service.