Vodacom sells Africa assets to Ngcaba-backed SynCom

Vodacom’s business services arm is selling assets in several key markets in the rest of Africa, outside South Africa, the telecommunications group said on Friday.

It is selling Vodacom Business Africa’s (VBA’s) operations in Nigeria, Zambia and Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) to Andile Ngcaba’s Synergy Communications, while its Angolan operation is being sold to Internet Technologies Angola.

SynCom will acquire 100% of VBA in the three West African markets, subject to regulatory approvals. ITA will also acquire all of of VBA in Angola.

“The transaction supports Vodacom Group’s enterprise strategy in Africa, which has been refocused to grow and strengthen its core business. It will no longer directly service global enterprise customers in these three markets but will rather continue to operate as a pan-African telecommunications networks provider through local relationships like the one with Synergy Communications,” the Johannesburg-headquartered group said in a statement. It has no provided a value for the sales.

Ngcaba, who chairs SynCom, described the deal as a “landmark transaction” for the company that gives it “additional momentum in the delivery of our strategy as a pan-African enterprise digital services provider”.

Bigger footprint

“Synergy Communications will partner with major global cloud providers and deliver platform-based services to both multinationals and local enterprises,” he said. SynCom, which already has operations in Botswana, Malawi and Mozambique, and which is headquartered in Mauritius, is a subsidiary of the Convergence Partners Communications Infrastructure Fund. Internet Technologies Angola, meanwhile, describes itself as the largest independent enterprise telecoms provider in the Southern African country.

Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub said Vodacom is not exiting any of the territories related to the transactions and “remains focused on continuing to deliver exceptional service to our global and multinational clients in these markets through long-term commercial agreements”.  — © 2019 NewsCentral Media