MTN is on the verge of acquiring one of the smaller mobile operators in Nigeria, it emerged this week.
The South Africa-based operator is holding talks with Visafone Communications and the pair are close to inking a deal, Reuters reported on Friday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the situation.
The newswire said its sources did not provide further information as to the purchase price or the size of stake in question.
MTN is Nigeria’s largest mobile operator with almost 60 million customers and a market share in excess of 43% at the end of 2014, according to figures provided by regulatory body the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
Its main rivals are GSM-based network operators Glo Mobile, Airtel and EMTS, and together the four serve more than 98% of the country’s mobile users.
Visafone is the largest of Nigeria’s CDMA operators and had 2.17 million customers at the end of last year.
Nigeria’s mobile operators are waiting for the NCC to once again restart the process that will lead to the auction of 2.6 GHz spectrum.
The regulator put the spectrum sale on hold in late March, without sharing the reason for the delay, having called for applications to take part in the contest just two weeks earlier.
It had intended to start the auction proper on 5 May with a view to announcing the winners in early June, but it now seems unlikely to stick to that timetable.
The NCC had planned to auction the spectrum late last year, but called a halt to proceedings in November for administrative reasons. Four months then passed before it reopened the process.
