WEDNESDAY, 8.30AM
The troubled Transnet communications service Transtel Cellular, which lost R83m in the year to March, is to be sold to MTN, and its staff either retrenched or redeployed inside Transnet.
A Transnet spokesman said the deal had been canvassed with government and labour, who agreed that the losses — mainly due to bad debts and fraud — made a sale essential. An attempt to sell off the division last year was blocked by government, because there had been a lack of consultation.
Transtel Cellular, with 22 000 subscribers, has proved one of the most popular of the smaller services in the country, but its losses were largely responsible for Transnet’s poor performance last year.