/ 18 February 2005

Tata won’t pay set price for stake in SNO

VSNL, part of India’s Tata Group and represented in South Africa by Tata Africa Holdings, will not be paying any set price for its 26% stake in the entity owning 51% of South Africa’s second national operator (SNO), according to Communications Minister Ivy Matsepi-Casaburri.

The government announced last week that it had allotted the 26% stake in Sepco, the entity holding a 51% in the SNO, to VSNL.

Commenting on developments regarding the SNO on Friday as part of Parliament’s media briefing week, Matsepe-Casaburri said that the government had not required that VSNL (or Tata) pay a certain price for the stake. Instead, their contribution would be determined in terms of the amount of investment, technology and knowledge they were bringing to the SNO.

Currently this amount was not known, she said, as VSNL had not finalised its business plan, but it would “certainly be in the billions of rands”.

The minister added that all parties in the SNO had agreed to a memorandum of understanding on their participation and that all legal challenges were in the process of being withdrawn.

“The parties in the SNO are now in the process of integrating into one entity and finalising the shareholders’ agreements and business plan in preparation for Icasa to consider issuing the license to the SNO. Icasa has indicated its readiness to address this matter speedily as soon as it is properly brought before it.” – I-Net Bridge