Vodafone's helping hand

27 May 2009 By Una Galani Follow @ugalani

The UK telecoms group recently won control of its South African joint venture. The precedent will make it hard for regulators to stop India s Bharti taking effective control of market leader MTN. Ironically, Vodafone s victory could help unite two of its largest rivals.

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Bharti Airtel and MTN are in exclusive talks over a proposed deal that would see the Indian mobile operator take a 49% stake in its South African rival. The complex cashandshares deal will also give MTN a 25% stake in Bharti.

Earlier this month, Vodafone finally won a battle to increase its stake in its South African joint venture Vodacom by 15% to 65%. The country's courts overruled a last minute decision by the regulator which could have blocked the deal.

A spokesman for The Congress of South African Trade Unions said: We remain concerned about the loss of South African control of another important company. However, looking at the deal, it's not on the same scale as the Vodafone/Vodacom deal…the Indian company is taking only a 49% stake, versus the 65% stake of Vodafone.

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