Minister of Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri on Tuesday announced that the third, unnamed bidder for the second national operator (SNO) failed to meet the required deadline and subsequently was disqualified.
As a result, the unsuccessful bidder leaves the competition open for two parties — Tata Africa Holdings and Old Mutual Asset Managers (Omam) — to bid for the 26% controlling stake in the operator.
“The process is well under way and will continue without further delay,” the minister added.
Other operator shareholders are the state-owned Eskom’s Esitel and Transnet’s Transtel jointly with a 30% stake, Nexus Connexion with 19%, CommuniTel with 12,5% and Two Consortium also holding 12,5% of the SNO.
The two bidders, Omam and Tata, already have interests in various telecommunications companies across Africa, including South African cellphone group MTN and its Netherlands-based peer Celtel. — I-Net Bridge