Telkom South Africa has reportedly called off negotiations to acquire state-owned telecoms infrastructure provider Broadband Infraco, TechCentral writes. According to an unnamed source familiar with the situation, the parties could not agree on price. Infraco was reportedly seeking a valuation of ‘several hundred million rand’, while Telkom was not prepared to pay that much. Telkom spokeswoman Jacqui O’Sullivan was cited as saying in a brief statement: ‘While there have been discussions … [the] parties could not reach agreement on various matters.’ For its part, Infraco chief marketing and sales officer Sammy Mafu said that he is not able to comment on a possible sale as the matter lied with the government as Broadband Infraco’s shareholder.
As previously reported by TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate, in June 2015 struggling Broadband Infraco was directed by its majority shareholder, the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services (DTPS), to undertake a valuation exercise in preparation for its possible sale, while in February this year it emerged that Infraco and Telkom were in talks over ‘possible collaboration’ on infrastructure projects.