MTN Uganda is evaluating deals for rival telecom firms after the second and third largest operators in the country agreed a merger.
Reuters reports MTN Uganda chairman Charles Mbire as saying the firm, which has the largest market share with 43 per cent, was looking into potential deals after Bharti Airtel agreed to buy Warid Telecom last month.
Mbire told Reuters MTN had also considered purchasing Warid, and confirmed the company was now looking at alternative acquisitions.
Call tariffs in Uganda have fallen by 40 per cent since 2010, according to the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), due to a price war as eight operators fight for customers.
But Mbire said he saw the price war ending soon and the market consolidating.
“Uganda is a market for at best two companies,” said Mbire. “I think there will be consolidation. The anarchy in the market has to stop. Out will come realism, real prices and then we can invest much more.
“It’s a price war, but with Bharti buying Warid the market is sobering up – most of the customers on Warid were getting free calls, it was more or less a lottery ticket.”
Reuters reported Uganda Telecom, the fourth largest operator in Uganda with a 15.7 per cent share, may be MTN’s most likely target, but Mbire refused to comment.
