Johannesburg - Vodacom Group Ltd, the African unit of Vodafone Group PLC, can buy Neotel Pty Ltd if it complies with South Africa’s black-ownership rules and brings broadband internet to rural areas, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa said.
Black economic-empowerment groups must hold 30-percent equity of the individual licence that is being transferred, Icasa said in a government gazette on Thursday.
Vodacom must also ensure that at least 25 percent of its broadband expansion using Neotel is in under-serviced areas.
The regulator is seeking responses from Johannesburg-based Vodacom and its rivals about when to apply these conditions, it said.
MTN Group Ltd, Africa’s largest phone company, and Cell C Pty Ltd have opposed the transaction on competition grounds.
Vodacom was granted provisional approval by South Africa’s Competition Commission to buy Neotel for R7-billion.
The deal was recommended on the basis that the phone company doesn’t cut Neotel jobs, invests R10 billion in the company within five years and restricts its use of Neotel’s spectrum for two years.
Bloomberg