French operator Orange has mandated Lazard to find a buyer for itsmobile telecoms business in Uganda, hot on theheels ofthe sale of Warid Telecom’s local unit to Bharti Airtel, sources told TMT Finance. Orangeis thought to be planning an exitfrom several marketsin Africa whereit does not alreadyhold a number oneor two spot. Asidefrom Uganda, which is thought to be the only geography wherean official process is underway, this could also includeOrange’s mobile businesses in Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo and Niger, among others. Uganda’s mobilemarketisdominated byMTNand Bharti Airtel. The latter acquired the third largest operator Warid Telecom for around US$100m from the Abu Dhabi Group in May2013. MTN has around 8.5 million subscribersin Uganda, while post-merger, Airtel has over 7.5 million. The next largest is Uganda Telecom’s UT Mobile unit, with Orange Uganda among the countrys smaller operators. According to sources, the most logical buyer ofthe Orange Uganda unitcould be MTN. The South African operator has previouslybeen vocal about consolidation in the country, and will be keen to firm up its number one position, with second placeAirtel gaining valuable ground. WhileAirtel isalso clearly in acquisition mode across Africa, sources said itwas unlikely theIndian telco would make a move for OrangeUganda so soon after its Warid buyout. With such a crowded market, consolidation will bethe mostlikely outcome, although there could also be interestfrom newcomers, sources commented. Vodacom is thoughtto have madea bid for Warid Telecom Uganda, before losing outto Bharti Airtel, and although Orange Uganda is substantiallysmaller, the unit could give Vodacom a footstep in a market where it clearly sees potential. Nextup for Orange could be thesale ofits mobile unitin Kenya, formerly Telkom Kenya Orange, which hasbeen struggling againstlarger rivals Vodafone-backed Safaricom and Bharti Airtel’s local unit, with continual losses which areunlikelyto plateau until 2016 at the earliest. Adecision by Orange to exitthe market could be accelerated following the news that fourth place Essar’s yuMobilewill besold and split between Orange’s rivals, with Safaricom to buyyu’s infrastructure, and Airtel to getits 2.7 million subscribers.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 08:45:42 +0000
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