Disqus
France Telecom acquired an additional 9.87% stake of the Senegal-based Sonatel, taking its ownership to 52.2%. Upon the completion of the transaction, the Senegalese government will remain Sonatel’s second biggest shareholder with 17.28% share.
Originally, France Telecom invested in the landline and mobile network operator in 1997, and has expanded since to Mali, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. At the end of 2008, the group had 3.8 million customers in Senegal, and a further 3.4 million in surrounding countries.
Commenting on the announcement, France Telecom’s Executive Director of the AMEA region, Marc Rennard, said: “The quality of Sonatel’s teams combined with France Telecom’s experience have made Sonatel one of the most important operators in West Africa, especially in terms of innovation and service quality, which continue to benefit the Group’s customers across its footprint. This new stage in our partnership will strengthen the dynamic business performance that characterises the Sonatel Group.”
[Via: Cellular-News]
About The Author
Dusan Belic
Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.
