The Nigerian Communications Commission reportedly certified the deal a few weeks ago. Which is interesting because MTN and the NCC are also in court over fines for failing to disconnect the users of unregistered SIM cards since late 2015.
According to reports, Etisalat believes the Visafone deal will grant MTN an unfair market advantage. The most obvious strategic motive for acquiring Visafone was for its 800Mhz spectrum license, which can be used to deploy internet speeds than are faster than current network averages, it would seem.
Etisalat is also said to be unhappy that the Visafone acquisition “bid” was not made open for other players to participate in.
I’m not quite sure why the sale of a private company must be a public auction, but then again, when companies cite unfair competitive practices, the whole point is to drag these transactions into the open for public scrutiny, to ensure that it does not lead to a market situation in which one corporate interest is so dominant that it can screw the end consumer with impunity.
The MTN/Visafone deal has been in the offine since early 2015, so the fact that this lawsuit is only coming now is probably because it couldn’t find another way to stop the deal from happening.
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