Cell Phone Companies’ Link-up Deal Placed On Hold

The  Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) said it might not grant approval for the proposed tie-up between cell phone group Mobile Telephone Network (MTN) and India's Bharti Airtel this year. Paris Mashile, Chairman of ICASA, confirmed on 15 September 2009 that the regulator would not talk to MTN about the deal until "all the documentation and facts and everything were ready".

When ICASA was asked whether they will try to block the deal, as it tried with Vodacom's transaction with Vodafone, Mashile said, "No. That is not really how we approach it. One size does not fit all". The Bharti-MTN transaction is subject to a deadline at the end of September 2009 set by the companies, with possible extension.

South Africa is pressing India for an agreement on the dual listing of companies before the deadline, the Indian Financial daily, the Economic Times reported on 16 September 2009. The Indian government has also said on16 September 2009 that it was open to a dual listing by MTN, on exchanges in India and South Africa, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

Reagan Malumo
Programme Officer: Media Freedom Monitoring and Research
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Regional Secretariat
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Private Bag 13386
Windhoek
Namibia
Phone: +264 61 232 975
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E mail: reagan@misa.org

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