MTN acquires Verizon Business South Africa

The South African-based MTN Group, has acquisitioned the Verizon Business subsidiary, Verizon South Africa (Pty) Ltd to the tune of 100 per cent.

Verizon Business corporate entities currently own approximately 70 per cent of Verizon Business South Africa, with the balance held by an entity controlled by Jay & Jayendra (Pty) Ltd (J&J Group), a leading South African investment company with a broad range of interests in the industrial, technology and mining sectors.

A press statement made available to ITRealms indicated that the transaction was in line with MTN’s stated strategy to provide integrated communications solutions in all of its markets and follows similar acquisitions by MTN subsidiaries in Nigeria, Cameroon, Cyprus and Cote d’Ivoire.

Also, the transaction supports MTN’s strong customer focus and commitment to providing greater choice and will help position MTN to offer a broad range of communication offerings beyond its mobile services.

MTN Group President, Mr. Phuthuma Nhleko, said that the acquisition of Verizon Business South Africa will bolster the scale and product offering of MTN’s existing South Africa-based Internet Service Provider (ISP), MTN Network Solutions, while strengthening its regional presence.

MTN, he noted tends to work closely with Verizon Business to continue to serve global customers with operations in the region and also to identify other opportunities for regional cooperation.

Verizon Business is a leader in the delivery of global Internet Protocol-based enterprise communications and Verizon Business South Africa is an established South Africa headquartered ISP providing full connectivity services to corporate customers in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Kenya.

“We’re pleased to announce this strategic acquisition, which will enhance MTN’s product offering to meet the diverse requirements of our customers. The acquisition will also provide MTN with access to a significant pool of skilled professionals.

Verizon Business South Africa, with its strong track record of providing advanced communications and information technology solutions to enterprise and government customers, is a natural fit to enhance MTN’s existing corporate offerings not only in South Africa but across the region,” he said.

Equally speaking, Vice President Strategy and Finance, Verizon Business, John Doherty, said that they would continue to refine local market approach to support the needs of multinational corporations worldwide, which it has achieve through either wholly-owned network assets and infrastructure or strategic alliances in key markets.

“Effectively, this transaction is about focusing each company’s operations to better serve its core customers’ needs. MTN’s strong focus on the African region will, we believe, provide effective service to customers based locally; we also look forward to continuing to work with MTN to support the local needs of our multinational customers,” he said.


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