Namibia’s Competition Commission has rejected the proposed merger between state-owned Namibia Post and Telecom Holdings (NPTH) and Luxembourg-based Samba, writes New Era. Between them the two companies own Namibia’s largest mobile network operator (MNO) by subscribers, Mobile Telecommunications (MTC), with NPTH holding a 66% share and Samba 34%. NPTH also owns MTC’s competitor Telecom Namibia and the Commission said that any merger of NPTH and Samba would harm competition in the Namibian mobile market: ‘Common ownership is unlikely to result in NPTH suffering financial losses when competition between Telecom Namibia and MTC, its two wholly-owned subsidiaries, is eliminated. NPTH is therefore unlikely to have an incentive to push Telecom Namibia and MTC to compete vigorously post-merger.’
The government is now giving the public two weeks to put forward their opinions on the proposed merger, before the Ministry of Industrialisation, Trade and SMS Development decides whether to uphold the Competition Commission’s decision.
Namibia,Mobile Telecommunications (MTC), Corporate/Financial, Mergers/Acquisitions
