Vodacom has been in discussion with Congolese Wireless Network‚ which owns the remaining 49%‚ for the past few years to resolve issues around funding of the company. The talks are also centred around determining the fair valuation of the company‚ which could assist in sorting out the funding structure of the business.
If the talks are successful Vodacom could look into increasing its stake. Vodacom had previously said that it had invested about $500-million over the past nine years in the DRC.
Although the issue around increasing its stake is not part of the current discussions‚ Vodacom's chairman Peter Moyo said after the company's annual general meeting that Vodacom group "would like to increase" its stake.
"There are certain things we believe need to be managed differently. The board's intention is that if we resolve the issues we might look into increasing our stake‚" he said.
This could be done through a capital funding model that will allow for share dilution. Moyo said the DRC was a "great opportunity" for Vodacom.
Last week‚ Vodacom reported a quarterly update covering April to June which showed a 29‚2% rise in total customer numbers to 50-million. The group's total revenue for the period was up 9,3% to R17-billion when compared to the three months to June last year.
The DRC currently has 6,2-million customers - up from 5,6-million at the end of March this year. Service revenue from international businesses‚ which include Lesotho‚ Tanzania and Mozambique‚ was R3,03-billion, up 6,3% from March and 46,7% when compared with the same period last year.
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