Maroc Telecom Pays $383 Million for 51% of Sotelma 

Bloomberg- By Nicky Smith

July 8 (Bloomberg) -- Maroc Telecom, the Moroccan phone and internet company controlled by Vivendi SA, agreed to pay 275 million euros ($383 million) for a 51 percent stake in Sotelma, Mali’s national phone company.

Sotelma “has a powerful brand image in Mali and offers considerable growth potential,” Abdeslam Ahizoune, Maroc Telecom’s chairman, said in an e-mailed statement today. “Maroc Telecom will do everything necessary to make the company the pre-eminent telecoms operator in its region,”

Sotelma had 500,000 mobile-phone subscribers at the end of December and 83,000 fixed-line subscribers, the statement said. The company generated revenue of 112 million euros in 2007. The sale is part of the Malian government’s efforts to privatize state-owned assets