By Aliyu DANLADI
South Africa-based mobile telecommunications company MTN Group Ltd said on Monday its Dubai subsidiary sold its Cyprus business to Monaco Telecom S.A for 260 million euros ($304 million).
MTN said in a statement in Johannesburg that the deal fell “outside the group’s core footprint of Africa and the Middle East”.
Africa’s biggest mobile telecoms group said that as part of the deal to sell MTN Cyprus, it would allow the use of the MTN brand in Cyprus for up to three years for a fee.
MTN Cyprus, which is the South African company’s only business in the European Union, was acquired as part of the acquisition of telecoms holding company Investcom LLC in 2006.
Johannesburg-listed MTN, which has businesses in 24 countries in Africa and the Middle East, is expanding in the continent and plans to launch a mobile service in Namibia in August.
