Update: An ownership dispute between Econet Wireless and Zain has come in the way of Airtel's plans to acquire the latter's African operations, with Business World reporting Econet Chief Executive Officer, the influential Strive Masiyiwa) as saying, "Zain Nigeria is not for sale". The Nigerian network is run by Celtel, which was acquired by Zain in 2005. Zain consequently acquired other telcos in Africa to build its pan-continent presence. Celtel's network covered 13 nations in the continent, and was valued at $10 billion in August 2009 when RCOM wasreportedly in talks to buy the division from Zain. Celtel Nigeria BV is a key asset and Zain has invested $435 million over the past year in it. Earlier Post (February 15, 2010): "Now that he speaks a neighbouring language, his competitors have reason to be Warid (worried)" - that was a clue at a B-school quiz held recently, referring to Sunil Bharti Mittal's takeover of Bangladeshi telco Warid last month. Mittal is now yearning to speak more languages: a notice to the BSE announces its intent to acquire Zain Telecom, or Mobile Telecommunications Company K.S.C, for its African unit. Zain serves some 41.897 million mobile connections in Africa. It has a total of 71.8 million mobile customers in 24 countries in the Middle East and Africa. For more detail: September 2009 mobile connections. The notice reads, "Bharti Airtel Limited and Zain have agreed to enter into exclusive discussions until 25 March 2010 for the acquisition of Zain’s African unit (Zain Africa…
