WEDNESDAY, 12.30PM:
BLACK-owned telecoms group Vula Communications, currently bidding for South Africa’s third cellular licence, on Tuesday announced it has bought a 12% stake in global satellite communications system Mobile Communications Holdings.
Vula’s R170-million share places it alongside Boeing as an equity partner in the the $1,4-billion company, and positions it as the first South African company to hold a substantial stake in the rapidly emerging global mobile telecommunications industry.
Through Vula, MCH’s Ellipso global mobile satellite communications system will be marketed and distributed though sub-Saharan Africa, offering markets previous unreached by traditional networks, and fixed, mobile and airborne voice and data telecommunications.
Vula’s chief executive Mark Headbush said the installation of the 17-satellite system will save African countries up to $4-billion a year by allowing them to interconnect directly with each other, without having to go through foreign exchanges.
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