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South Africa: Vodacom walks away from a R7bn Neotel deal

By  |  March 1, 2016

Vodacom has announced that it will no longer buy Neotel, due to regulatory complexities and certain conditions not being fulfilled.

The cancellation of the deal comes after the High Court in Pretoria ruled that Vodacom would not be able to take control of licences owned by Neotel as part of the companies’ planned R7-billion merger.

Before the ruling, the two companies had announced a modified deal that would see Vodacom acquire all Neotel’s assets – but not its licences.

“Shareholders are advised that Vodacom South Africa will continue to invest in the development of its own high-speed communication infrastructure to stimulate greater competition in the fixed telecommunications sector and support both its business services offerings and its consumer business,” said Vodacom.

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