Airtel, Millicom complete Ghana operations deal

The Dollar Business Bureau

Indian telecom operator Bharti Airtel Ltd and international telecom and media company Millicom International Cellular SA on Monday announced the closing of a deal for combining their operations in Ghana.

Executed through their respective arms, the deal will create the second biggest mobile operator in Ghana with around 10 million subscribers and $300 million in revenues.

“The combined networks of the two companies will cover more than 80% of Ghana's population, in particular, in villages and far flung areas and serve customers with affordable world-class voice/data services, affordable global roaming and mobile banking services,” Bharti Airtel said in a statement. 

Both Airtel and Millicom will have equal shareholdings and rights of governance in the merged entity.

In addition, both the companies will have representatives on the board as well as in the management in the combined entity.

“The Ghana’s communication regulator, National Communications Authority (NCA), has also granted approval for the merger proposal early this month,” said the statement.

The current chief executive officer (CEO) of Tigo Ghana, Roshi Motman, will be the new Chief of the merged entity.

The joint entity will be deconsolidated and considered as a strategic asset just like a joint venture (JV) and the entity will remain operating both the Airtel and Tigo brands, the statement added.

The process of consolidation of business will take more than few weeks’ time.

Both companies are expecting considerable synergies from the deal to enable the joint entity achieve its cash-flow levels and profitability faster.