Vodacom South Africa announced it will proceed with the acquisition of Neotel, but has dropped the group's spectrum from the deal. In a statement, Vodacom said it reached a a revised agreement with Neotel on a modified transaction that does not include Neotel's spectrum. The new deal will see it acquire the majority of Neotel's assets related to its fixed-line business as a going concern, but excluding Neotel's spectrum licences. At the same time, Neotel will offer a roaming arrangement to all the mobile network operators, including Vodacom South Africa.
The revised agreement addresses some of the concerns of rival operators and regulators that the takeover would give Vodacom too strong a position in terms of spectrum resources. The companies first announced the takeover in May 2014. The telecoms regulator Icasa gave its preliminary approval to the deal in July this year, but Vodacom announced last month that it had started talks with Neotel on revising the terms. Vodacom and Neotel have now submitted the revised agreement to the Competition Tribunal, which has scheduled a pre-hearing for 10 December.
