Vodafone won’t sell its Egyptian unit to partner Telecom Egypt, which already owns 45% of the mobile operation. “The parties have agreed that it is in the best interest of [Vodafone Egypt] that the current ownership structure should remain in place,” the company said in a statement.
Vodafone’s 55% share was rumoured to be worth around $4.4 billion. Vodafone Egypt is highly profitable, and has managed to generate 488 million GBP of operating cash flow in 2009-10.
Recently Vodafone’s CEO Vittorio Colao marked Europe, sub-Saharan Africa and India as three “priority areas” for the company.
Fixed-line operator Telecom Egypt is believed to be keen to enter the domestic mobile market and may try to secure its own mobile operating license. The Egyptian government has not ruled out issuing a fourth license.
For the record, Vodafone Egypt is the country’s second-largest mobile operator with a 43% market share and 24.6 million connections. Two other operators are ECMS’ Mobinil (owned by Orascom Telecom and France Telecom) and Etisalat.
[Via: MobileBusinessBriefing]