MTN mashed. Whoa. MTN took some serious tap yesterday. The official line will be that Bharti and Zain have all but concluded their deal. And of course now Bharti will be competing head on with MTN in Nigeria. 6 months is a lot in the world of telecommunications nowadays. I have a different take on it, you know that MTN have moved aggressively into Africa and paid outrageous prices ten years ago. These have turned out to be amazing and very smart licence purchases now. The African population is going to double in the next forty years. And if the continents economy grows comfortably ahead of the developed world from a low base, that still makes the place very attractive.
The headlines vary, but here are a grouping, Bloomberg runs with this one: Mittal's Zain Deal Pits MTN Against Former Suitor and this one from closer to home for the fellows over at Bharti, the Telegraph in Calcutta Bharti-MTN tussle on cards.