Altech Autopage has pushed back its planned shutdown date, which was originally scheduled for the end of this month, with the Business Day citing Autopage’s new managing director, Peter Wattrus, as saying: ‘The anticipated closure date of February 29 will not be met due to the delay in approval from the regulator … Altech Autopage will communicate new timelines in due course. Until such time as the migration takes place, Altech Autopage will continue to service its clients.’
As previously reported by TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate, in May 2015 Altech agreed to offload its one million-strong subscriber base, and four months later it revealed that it entered into agreements with three companies – Vodacom South Africa, MTN and Cell C – for a total consideration of ZAR1.46 billion (USD94.9 million). The deals were subsequently challenged by Altech’s largest customer Saicom Holdings in December, and following a further investigation into the matter, the antitrust authority belatedly approved the acquisitions last week.