Two French giants eye acquisitions in India and Africa

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Two French giants eye acquisitions in India and Africa

By CAROLINE GABRIEL

Published: 15 June, 2009

READ MORE: India | Africa & Middle East

The burgeoning mobile markets of the world, especially India and Africa, are in a state of flux as local and international carriers seek to stake a claim to markets there. French operators are being particularly active, with Orange among the most expansive carriers in Africa. Now the firm is rumored to be looking for a partnership in India, while another French giant, media operator Vivendi, is at the center of speculation about the future of Zain, another of the biggest players in the Middle East/Africa region.

African newspapers are reporting that Kuwait-based Zain is looking to offload its sub-Saharan African operations, which span 12 countries in the region, though this would be a major change of strategy from one that looked to expand across the whole African continent. Zain got its original entry into the African market through its $3.4bn acquisition of Celtel in 2005 and has been assessing opportunities in seven countries and even considering bidding for a license in crowded South Africa.

If reports prove correct, it will sell off its Nigerian unit first, even though this country is one of the world's fastest growing and has attracted carriers like Vodafone. Vivendi is the frontrunner for the company, but other bids could be considered if these talks fail, says Nigeria's Business Daily newspaper. The whole African operations could be worth $12bn, say analysts.

Zain Nigeria is also understood to have signed a five-year managed services deal with Ericsson this month, which could improve its cost base for a future owner.

Meanwhile, France Telecom/Orange, possibly working with Australian carrier Telstra, is said to be negotiating for take a stake in India's 2G operator Aircel for about $1.3bn. It is reported to be talking to Malaysia's Maxis, which owns 74% of Aircel, while Maxis shareholder Saudi Telecom is looking to increase its holding in the firm from 25% to 35%. Estimates of the valuation of Aircel, which has a subscriber base of 19.6m, vary between $7bn and $8bn. None of the parties would comment.

Nokia may have had limited impact in its original Comes With Music market, the UK, so far, but it is plowing ahead with plans to extend the unlimited subscription service to the US and Asia, and keeps piling on the music phones.

This week it is adding the XpressMusic 5530, which supports the new Ovi Store (so it can buy and play music direct from the Nokia Music Store). It also added a newer, better Blackberry-alike in the N72. The N71 has sold really well for Nokia and found it a place in the AT&T line up in the US, quite a feat for Nokia's worst market, and this phone takes it on a stage.

Nokia upgraded the XpressMusic interface at Mobile World Congress earlier this year, and now has two scrolling bars - one a copy of the Sony Xross Media bar, for touchscreen left-to-right scrolling of media, and another similar feature for contacts. It now allows 20 contacts on the bar, up from just four. The Nokia 5530 XpressMusic homescreen has one-touch shortcuts to Facebook and MySpace.

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