Like they’re not already the largest mobile operator in the world in terms of revenue (China Mobile has more subscribers), Vodafone is acquiring 70% stake in a leading Ghana’s telecommunications operator, Ghana Telecom, from the Government of Ghana for $900 million (which would get to keep the remaining 30% of the company).
Ghana Telecom is number 3 mobile player with approximately 17% market share and 1.4 million customers as at 31 March 2008. At the same time, they are leading fixed line and broadband operator with about 99% of the total number of lines and around 90% market share of the retail ADSL market. During last year, Ghana Telecom’s revenues grew 9.3% to $290 million.
Vodafone plans to leverage its experience of rapid network deployment in India and other emerging markets and hopes to see Ghana Telecom raising its mobile market share over time to around 25%.