VimpelCom on Monday said its subsidiary Global Telecom Holding has sold its 100 percent stake in Telecel Globe, which owns U-COM in Burundi and Telecel CAR in Central African Republic, for $65 million, to Econet Wireless Global.
Earlier, VimpelCom decided to exit from Wind Mobile cellular telephony service in Canada.
Econet Wireless Global, a telecommunications group with operations in several countries mainly in Africa, acquired Telecel Globe from Global Telecom Holding after VimpelCom, a telecom operator, headquartered in Amsterdam, has failed to close a deal announced in the first quarter of 2013 with another purchaser.
Andrew Davies, chief financial officer of VimpelCom, said: “We have previously outlined our Value Agenda within which our operations are reviewed to assess their future value to the Group. The decision to sell our operations in CAR and Burundi is a result of this process.”
In September, VimpelCom and and Global Telecom Holding agreed to sell all of their debt and equity interest in the Globalive group of companies in Canada, including Globalive Wireless Management, the operator of the Wind Mobile cellular telephony service in Canada to Globalive Capital, the main shareholder of Wind Canada, for approximately CAD 135 million.
VimpelCom in its corporate website says its operations in African and Asian markets offer ARPUs of $2 per month and EBITDA margins above 40 percent. Its operations are located in generally strong economies with mostly stable political systems where the data growth opportunity is significant.
Largest markets for VimpelCom are Algeria, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The Africa & Asia Business Unit operates in five countries under four brands: Djezzy in Algeria; Mobilink in Pakistan; banglalink in Bangladesh; Telecel in Zimbabwe; and Beeline in Laos.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com
