The MTN Group has announced the acquisition of a 100 per cent stake in Libertis Telecom, one of two cellular network operators in the Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville).
Libertis provides coverage in various towns to approximately 190,000 subscribers. The country has a population of 3.5 million people with mobile penetration estimated at 13.9 per cent.
MTN aims to significantly increase Libertis’ national coverage and to reduce congestion. MTN has also identified a variety of quality products and services to introduce to the Congolese market.
Subscribers can look forward to accessing cutting-edge technologies enjoyed by all MTN’s operations.
The MTN Group recently announced the successful purchase of a 49 per cent stake in IranCell, the private company that has been issued the second GSM licence in Iran.
Earlier this year, the MTN Group acquired a 51 per cent interest in Loteny Telecom, operating as Telecel Cote d’Ivoire and a 100 per cent interest in Telecel Zambia, now trading as MTN Zambia.
In September 2005, the MTN Group also acquired an indirect equity interest in Botswana’s Mascom Wireless.
As of Sept. 30, MTN Group had 20.6 million subscribers across its 10 operations. The additional acquisition of Libertis Telecom brings the total number of operations to 11 spread across the African continent and the Middle East.
To date, the MTN Group has invested more than R23.4 billion (US$3.7 billion) in infrastructure on the African continent. Over the past 12 months’ reporting period, capital investment amounted to R7.6 billion.