INDICATIONS emerged yesterday that MTN
Group Ltd has started the process of buying
Visafone Communications Ltd of Nigeria as it
seeks to expand in its largest market, according
to two people familiar with the matter.
MTN, Africa's biggest mobile phone company,
has been exploring acquisitions as it seeks to
boost revenue from data outside South Africa,
where Vodacom Group Ltd has more subscribers.

According to Bloomberg, Johannesburg-based
MTN had 59.9 million subscribers in Nigeria at
the end of 2014, more than a quarter of its 223
million total across 22 countries. Visafone had
about 2.2 million customers as of December,
according to data compiled by the Nigerian
Communications Commission.

A spokeswoman for MTN's Nigerian unit in
Lagos, Mrs. Funmilayo Onajide, in a text
message yesterday, said: "We will send a holding
statement at the appropriate time."
Another top official of the GSM firm, who
preferred anonymity because he was not
authorised to speak on the process, confirmed to
The Guardian that it was true that MTN Nigeria
was eyeing Visafone.

"It is true. We are talking. The deal is likely to
work and we shall come out to make official
statement about the deal... soonest", he stated.
Meanwhile, efforts to get the Corporate
Communications Executive of Visafone, Joseph
Oshiagale to comment, proved abortive as his
mobile phone numbers were switched off as at
press time.

Visafone, a Lagos-based communication firm, is
a wireless network provider founded in 2007 by
Jim Ovia, a Nigerian businessman who also
created Zenith Bank Plc. The people asked not to
be identified because the deal has yet to be
announced. They didn't give the value of the
transaction.

Indeed, the Code Division Multiple Access
(CDMA) operator, Visafone, has remained the
only surviving player in the category, loosing
markets to the fierce power of the GSM players,
including MTN Nigeria, Globacom, Airtel and
Etisalat.

joywendy:
seun my padi and my dear mods dragnet and ko. Help me with this thread. It's important. Thanks.

Youngsage:

Abbott:
Stupid Glo company. Useless, visionless company.

Oxasbi:
So they are buying visafone cos of data subscriber base abi. They should av worked on the data speed instead.

busky101:
God gorbid, I reject this deal ijn, make mtn come hike my data plan for me...still enjoy my 10tb for 1k on bb. Imo, mtn should have bought nitel

Nutase:
Jim d Don at it again

boman2014:
No no no! Not MTN.

joywendy:

GLO ke? guy you miss road


Abi oh seriously!



lol!! This your English ehn. Toh bad

10tb for 1k seriously?



who is jim



Seriously same i said, why mtn? I dislike those peeps like crazy.

Abbott:


Stop being clownish. They should be the one buying Visaphone, not MTN.

joywendy:


You should have said that in your previous post to make it more meaningful than you just coming here on the thread hurling insults at glo. It didn't even make sense.

@ bold I should be telling you that instead

busky101:
God forbid, I reject this deal ijnp, make mtn come hike my data plan for me...still enjoy my 10tb for 1k on bb. Imo, mtn should have bought nitel

pelboy:
This must not happen o....
Mtn go dabaru the the place niii and dem go turn visafone 1k-1tb to 1k-2gb