Vodafone has bought a 70 percent stake in Ghana Telecom, Ghana’s fixed-line incumbent operator and third-placed mobile player, for US$900 million, the company said in a statement this morning. The deal values the operator at approximately US$1.3 billion. Vodafone bought the stake from the Ghanian government, which will continue to hold the minority 30 percent stake. Commenting on the transaction, Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin described Ghana as “one of the most attractive markets in Africa” with mobile subscriber growth at more than 55 percent a year and mobile penetration of around 35 percent. Vodafone said it plans to invest US$500 million in the operator over the next five years.

According to figures published by Vodafone, Ghana Telecom owns 99 percent of the country’s fixed-lines and has around a 90 percent share of the retail broadband (ADSL) market. It is also the country’s number three mobile player (after market-leader MTN and second-placed Millicom) with 1.4 million customers by end of first-quarter 2008, representing a market share of around 17 percent. However, Vodafone said it planned to reverse “recent underperformance” at the operator by lifting its mobile market share to around 25 percent via initiatives such as mobile money transfer (M-PESA) and ultra-low cost handsets.