British telecommunication giant, Vodafone is expected to be confirmed the new owner of Ghana Telecom (GT) by July 2, 2008, a source at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has said.

The world's leading international mobile communications group was said to have concluded negotiations with government to acquire a 66.7 percent stake in the state-owned enterprise which had been tabled for privatization since last year.

The source indicated that Vodafone which was the sole company negotiating with the Inter-Ministerial Committee, agreed on a $960 million deal.

Additionally, the Inter-Ministerial Committee comprising officials from the Office of the President, Ministries of Communications and Finance, and the Ghana Investment and Promotion Council (GIPC) were satisfied with the bid documents that Vodafone submitted, the source stated.

Dr. Anthony Osei Akoto on Tuesday during a press interaction noted that the privatization of GT was to end next week, and that the completion would help enhance divestiture receipts to close the gap that had been created by the relief measures announced by President John Agyekum Kufuor last month.

He said in confidence that a prospective company had been found to take over GT from the beginning of next month and that “It wasn't true investors were shying away because of the bidding price”.

Benjamin Aggrey Ntim, Communications Minister also confirmed to CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE yesterday that a new owner of GT was to be announced by next week, adding that Vodafone was the only firm left negotiating with government to take over GT.

He told Parliament on Tuesday that negotiations for the process to privatise the Ghana Telecommunication Company (GT) were to close by the end of June 2008.

He mentioned this while answering questions on the floor of the House, adding that government owned 100 percent shares in the company, but the shares would be floated on the Ghana Stock Exchange when privatized.

GT was supposed to have been awarded to France Telecom after the French company won the bid ahead of Vodacom, South Africa and Portugal Telecom, to take over the affairs of the company until government stepped in asking for a new price of $1 billion.

According to the criteria meant for the acquisition of GT, the potential investor was required to be an existing telecommunication operator with at least one million landline subscribers and six million mobile subscribers.

It was also required to triple the current mobile subscriber base within three years, along with fixed line capacity increases.

The Government of Ghana in 2006 took a decision to privatize GT and Westel, a sister telecommunication company, within a two-year period through the sale of its shares in the two companies.

The understanding, according to the Communications Minister, was to introduce competition and also address issues of access to rural communities.

Vodafone Group Plc is the world's leading mobile telecommunications company, with a significant presence in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and the United States through the company's subsidiary undertakings, joint ventures, associated undertakings and investments.

The Group's mobile subsidiaries operate under the brand name 'Vodafone'.

As of March 31, 2008, based on the registered customers of mobile telecommunications ventures in which it had ownership interests, the Group had 260 million customers, excluding paging customers, calculated on a proportionate basis in accordance with the firm's percentage interest in these ventures.

By Charles Nixon Yeboah Source: Daily Guide - Daily Guide