Vodacom Group which trades in Zambia as Vodafone has announced the sale of its business unit operations in Zambia, Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire to Andile Ngcaba’s Synergy Communications.
The transaction is now subject to approval from the regulatory authorities within these markets.
Synergy Communications, a subsidiary of the Convergence Partners Communications Infrastructure Fund announced that it had acquired 100% of Vodacom Business Africa’s operations in these markets.
Convergence Partners, which is owned by Ngcaba, is an investment management firm focused on the technology, media and telecoms sector in Africa.
As the chairman, founder and majority shareholder of Convergence Partners, Ngcaba is also involved in significant new communications infrastructure projects across Africa.
These include Seacom, Intelsat New Dawn, FibreCo, and, recently, a new joint venture with Google to invest in CSquared, a broadband infrastructure company headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya.
This acquisition is a significant milestone in Ngcaba’s vision for Synergy Communication to be a leading provider of cloud and digitally based services in key markets across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Synergy Communications currently has operations in Botswana, Malawi and Mozambique, with flagship investments in Internet Solutions Mozambique, Skyband Malawi and Virtual Business Network Services in Botswana.
Said Ngcaba: “This is an exciting landmark transaction for Synergy Communications, providing us with additional momentum in the delivery of our strategy as a pan-African enterprise digital services provider. Synergy Communications will partner with major global cloud providers and deliver platform-based services to both multinationals and local enterprises.”
Announcing the deal, Vodacom said the transaction supports its enterprise strategy on the continent, which has been refocused to grow and strengthen the core business.
Vodacom says it will no longer directly service global enterprise customers in these three markets, but will continue to operate as a pan-African telecommunications network provider through local relationships like the one with Synergy Communications.
Shameel Joosub, CEO of Vodacom Group, said: “Vodacom has a clear vision for strengthening our position as a leading pan-African business and will work with local service providers like Synergy Communications to grow in these markets. Crucially, Vodacom is not exiting any of the territories related to this transaction and remains focused on continuing to deliver exceptional service to our global and multinational clients in these markets through long-term commercial agreements. To support the sustainable growth of pan-African digital economies and build connected societies, Vodacom will, via local service providers, continue to service clients in each market.”
We are just interested to see FIC culprits brought to book.
I thought it was sold a long time ago…so what happens to people who bought those wireless modems? Busy robbing people with 5 year businesses to get free tax breaks then close shop..
That deal did not go through….please remember that this Vodafone is not the same as that in SA or UK. It’s just a brand name being used.
This one is very broken at the moment!
Well, we are still looking for Supreme Furnishers, Ellerines and many others like them, what happened?
They sold the person note closing down the business
They sold the business . Not closing the business
This must be iConnect and not Vodafone Zambia. Misleading headline!
There we go again….selling our country !
Abanda vadofone sicompany ya boma ya Zambia baba. Niyao azungu.. agulisa
Does site has qualified editor? This headline is misleading in all angles .
This article was copied work for word from and is just misleading from the work go.
Finally it has been sold. I hope the new owners expand on the initial vision of the company.
By the way, those who dont know, Iconnect is under the Vodacom group while this Vodafone was a very different company altogether. And both are mot run by zambians at all. But offcourse they employ many Zambians. Vodafone went down and offloaded most of their employees. We hope the new owners re employ even more.
Looking forward to seeing Zambia entrepreneurs behaving like Andile Abner Ngcaba who left ANC govt in 2003 to pursue a career in the private sector and there he is buying off Vodacom Business Africa’s operations.Unfortunately in Zambia,you have to be in a political office to contribute to the country……it beats my logic cos the richest people in the world are not politicians.