The Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) has given telecommunications group Telkom the green light to dispose of its masts and towers business.
The group said on Monday that Icasa approved the disposal on December 13.
In April, Telkom announced the planned sale of its masts and towers business, housed in Swiftnet, for R6.75bn to a consortium consisting of an infrastructure fund managed by a subsidiary of Actis and an infrastructure vehicle 100% owned by Royal Bafokeng Holdings.
The Competition Commission approved the deal in September after shareholders gave support to the transaction in May.
Swiftnet owns and operates about 3,900 commercially viable masts and towers in SA.
Telkom CEO Serame Taukobong said: “This transaction is a pivotal moment in Telkom’s implementation of our data-led strategy under OneTelkom.”
“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.
“We continue to make progress on the alignment of our asset portfolio and our disposal of noncore properties in support of our data-led growth.”
When Telkom tried to list Swiftnet in early 2022, the business was valued at about R13bn, based on a sum of its parts calculation by former CEO Sipho Maseko. Business Day understands that initial listing plans were abandoned because market conditions allowed for a return of less than R10bn.
However, the market has turned since the initial valuation. Earlier in the year, Taukobong told Business Day that he was confident the price was fair.
In November, the group reported a jump of almost 10% in profit at the halfway stage as its cost optimisation initiatives started to yield results.
Profit for the six months to end-September was up 9.7% to R1.07bn, but on an adjusted basis profit was 67.9% higher at R1.64bn.
Group revenue for continuing operations was up 1.9% to R21.4bn, with mobile service revenue increasing 10% and that from fibre data by 15.5%.
“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 Taukobong.
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