South Africa may sell Telkom stake

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa will consider selling its 37,7 per cent stake in fixed-line phone operator Telkom if it makes business sense, a key lawmaker was quoted as saying yesterday.

Business Report quoted MP Mpetjane Lekgoro, chairman of the parliamentary committee on communications, as saying the government could sell if it was confident it would not hurt efforts to bring down tariffs and roll out communications to the poor. “If the deal makes good business sense and (the government) is confident that matters of pricing and universal coverage will go right …then that will be a good time to sell,” Lekgoro was quoted as saying in Johannesburg on Tuesday.A spokesman at the department of communications said he was not able to comment immediately but was not aware of government plans to sell, or reduce, its stake in Telkom.The government owns 37,7 per cent of Telkom, black investor group the Elephant Consortium owns 10,1 per cent and institutional and individual shareholders own the rest.Telkom floated on the Johannesburg and New York stock exchanges in March 2003.Consumer groups have accused Telkom of overcharging customers and the government says it is working on finding ways to reduce the price of phone calls and Internet access, which it says is inflating the cost of doing business.Shares in Telkom closed at 156,20 rand on Tuesday.- Nampa-Reuters”If the deal makes good business sense and (the government) is confident that matters of pricing and universal coverage will go right …then that will be a good time to sell,” Lekgoro was quoted as saying in Johannesburg on Tuesday.A spokesman at the department of communications said he was not able to comment immediately but was not aware of government plans to sell, or reduce, its stake in Telkom.The government owns 37,7 per cent of Telkom, black investor group the Elephant Consortium owns 10,1 per cent and institutional and individual shareholders own the rest.Telkom floated on the Johannesburg and New York stock exchanges in March 2003.Consumer groups have accused Telkom of overcharging customers and the government says it is working on finding ways to reduce the price of phone calls and Internet access, which it says is inflating the cost of doing business.Shares in Telkom closed at 156,20 rand on Tuesday.- Nampa-Reuters