This is the end of a long series that has shaken the African telecom sector. Tunisie Telecom had been planning to sell its Mauritanian subsidiary, Mattel, for several years. The leading mobile telephone operator in Tunisia, Tunisie Telecom is currently 65% owned by the Tunisian state and 35% by Dubai Holding. It therefore required the agreement of the highest authorities of the State for the sale to be authorized. Which finally happened at the end of last December. President Kaïs Saïed then gave his agreement for the sale of Mattel.
It took barely three months for Tunisie Telecom to find a buyer. After initial contacts with the Malagasy Axian, last March 14, Tunisie Telecom, BSA telecommunication and Comatel finally ended up signing an exclusive agreement with the company Telecel Group for the sale of 100% of the shares of Mattel. The British group, chaired by Frenchman Hugues Mulliez, takes over an operator that is on the rise: the first mobile telephone operator in Mauritania to have launched GSM, Mattel holds nearly 33% market share in telecoms in Mauritania.
In its press release, the Tunisian-Mauritanian group writes: “ Since its creation on May 11, 2000, the result of cooperation between Mauritanian and Tunisian economic operators, Mattel has always relied on the quality of its network, the professionalism of its staff, the leadership of its management team and the proximity to its customers. ». Mattel « plays an essential role in the development of broadband in Mauritania through its 4G and fiber optic infrastructures deployed in the main cities of the country “, continues the press release.
For Telecel, the acquisition of Mattel is part of an offensive development strategy: the group has been present throughout Africa since 1986. Since 2016, Telecel has notably invested in the Central African Republic and in South Africa. Since 2018. The telecommunications group has launched several operations and plans to invest more than 700 million dollars by 2025, “mainly in acquisitions of mobile operators, the construction of infrastructure for fiber optics and in the infrastructure,” according to the press release.
With Mattel, Telecel acquires an operator which has modernized its network over the years “thanks to the latest generation technical equipment and the know-how of its engineers” and which “offers its services throughout the country with a network of more than 120 agencies spread throughout the national territory,” the press release states.
Mattel leaders say they are “satisfied with the interactions with the Telecel group, which has a solid industrial project”.
