Reports reaching us seem to confirm that Airtel Ghana and tiGO Ghana may indeed merge this year. After the merger, the resulting firm will be taken over by French telecom giant, Orange. It is worth noting that Airtel has in the past held talks to sell off its operations in Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville and Sierra Leone to Orange.
Bharti Airtel, the mother company of Airtel Ghana is said to have announced that it will be exiting 14 African countries including Ghana within a year. BloombergQuint quotes Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal as saying “the move would pare the size of operations in the continent and could be completed within a year….some of Bharti’s businesses in 14 African nations would be affected.”
A further confirmation was a hint by some local telecom executives who said they have been approached by Orange with a job offer in Ghana, while some Airtel and tiGO vendors close to talks on the matter have also confirmed they have been approached to start preparing for the change over.
Airtel Ghana is the fourth biggest operator out of six operators. Its subscriber base stands at 4.68 million, representing a market share of 12.54 per cent. Its data subscriptions is a little over three million, representing some 15.71 per cent market share. Airtel Ghana’s market value is said to be worth some US$200 million.
This move will help consolidate the Ghana telco space which is currently saturated with many operators. Hopefully, the consolidation will lead to innovative product offerings at competitive price points.
Source: Ghana Web
Featured image credit: graphic.com
