Nicola Mawson
State-owned company Telkom has received the go-ahead from the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) to sell its masts and towers business to a consortium in which Royal Bafokeng Holdings has a stake. in a R6.75 billion deal.
The sale of the masts and towers business is now awaiting administrative conditions before closing, given that this follows unanimous shareholder approval secured in May 2024, and Competition Tribunal approval obtained in September 2024.
Telkom’s 4 000 masts and towers are housed in its Swiftnet unit.
The consortium is led by Actis, a global investor in sustainable infrastructure focused on the energy, infrastructure, and real estate sectors.
In a statement, the telecoms company said that this marked a significant step in the implementation of Telkom's transformative strategic journey to focus on core operations while realising the value in non-core assets.
Telkom’s most recent financial results surpassed market expectations as it reported adjusted headline earnings per share from continuing operations up 68% 146.9 cents per share.
“The strong performance of our core business, coupled with strategic initiatives like the Swiftnet transaction, demonstrates that our strategy is delivering the promised results to the market,” said Serame Taukobong, the Telkom Group CEO.
Taukobong added that the “transaction is a pivotal moment in Telkom's implementation of our data-led strategy under OneTelkom”. OneTelkom aims to sweat the various assets by collaborating across the various business units to win more business, promote operational synergies and drive capital efficiency.
“We are creating a focused and agile Telkom that can invest in growth areas while maintaining our position as South Africa's leading telecommunications infrastructure provider,” said Taukobong.
“The sale will strengthen our balance sheet, reduce debt, and provide additional capital. This will enable us to focus our investment in next-generation technology infrastructure,” said Taukobong.
“We continue to make progress on the alignment of our asset portfolio and our disposal of non-core properties in support of our data-led growth.”
ICASA’s approval, the final regulatory one provided, results in a change of control of Swiftnet's licences.
BUSINESS REPORT