Vodafone Fiji set to ink BeMobile management agreement

A deal under which Vodafone Fiji will manage Papua New Guinean mobile network operator BeMobile is expected to be signed tomorrow, Fiji Village reports. The development comes just a month after it was revealed that the prime minister of Papua New Guinea (PNG), Peter O’Neill, confirmed that Vodafone Fiji had been given approval to take the reins at the cellco, following negotiations between PNG’s state-owned Independent Public Business Corporation (IPBC), a statutory corporation that holds a number of state-owned enterprises, the Asian Development Bank, Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) and Vodafone Fiji. It is understood that IPBC will retain a 51% stake in BeMobile under the terms of the deal, while FNPF will invest capital to take a 41% holding in the operator. Meanwhile, as part of the management contract, the Vodafone brand is expected to be introduced in PNG.