Zain halts African sales

Kuwait's Zain, the Gulf's third-largest telecoms firm by market value, halted talks to sell its African assets to appease potential buyers of a stake in Zain Group, reports Reuters.

Zain, which operates in 24 countries, is in talks to sell its African assets, excluding Morocco and Sudan, after Vivendi broke off talks on buying the operations.

Last month, Kuwaiti conglomerate Kharafi Group agreed to sell 46% of Zain to a consortium led by India's Vavasi Group and including telecoms firms Bharat Sanchar Nigam and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam, and Malaysian billionaire Syed Mokhtar al-Bukhary.

Former MTN chief executive Adrian Wood says Nigeria would need to attract a minimum of $25 billion to leapfrog into the top 20 economies of the world by the year 2020, states All Africa.com.

Wood, who is currently the chief executive of Brymedia West Africa, noted that $25 billion is the minimum amount needed for Nigeria to bring the national telecommunications network to world standard.

Wood says: “It is clear that the federal government needs to attract further investment into the telecoms industry. That investment into quality projects will generate employment and also bring about fresh competition, with lower prices and better value for Nigerian customers, including private individuals, businesses and government.”

The cellular market in Africa and Middle East is set to see intensified competition with new carrier licences being made available and late entrants struggling to survive, says TMCnet.

According to analyst firm Pyramid Research, consolidation has begun; although third entrants in Africa and the Middle East have gained as much as 37% of their markets within three years, the picture for fourth and fifth operators is gloomier.

Dearbhla McHenry, author of the report, says: “It is often the case that operators entering a market where another operator has recently launched will tend to find it difficult to establish an additional brand.”