Bharti Airtel today said it received approval for the acquisition of Tigo Rwanda, a subsidiary of Millicom International Cellular, from the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA).
Airtel will become the largest telecom operator in Rwanda with 5.9 million subscribers following the completion of the deal. Africa, the number one telecom operator in India, did not disclose the financial details.
The combined networks of the two companies will serve customers with voice / data services, global roaming and mobile banking services. It will also have Rwanda’s largest sales and distribution network.
The merger will result in the only negative EBITDA OpCo joining other 13 positive EBITDA OpCos in Africa.
The acquisition will undergo integration, both on the customer as well as the network side and strengthen Airtel’s wireless market position in Rwanda.
Airtel has presence in 14 countries across Africa. Airtel is one of the largest telecom service providers on the continent in terms of geographical reach, and has 84 million customers at the end of quarter ended December 30, 2017.
