Ghana’s National Communications Authority (NCA) granted conditional approval to a transfer of Vodafone Group’s 70 per cent stake in its domestic unit operations to Mauritius-based Telecel Group after the latter revised its proposed deal.

In a statement, the NCA explained Telecel had notified it about the potential asset transfer in January 2022, a request which was rejected due to issues involving regulatory requirements.

The regulator later issued a statement denying rumours its initial rejection amounted to a block on the transaction as a whole.

Telecel resubmitted its application in December 2022: the NCA stated the operator had improved its “overall governance and management team” and showed “firm commitments” towards meeting the regulatory threshold for the transaction.

The NCA added Telecel’s revised proposal included plans to “extend the deployment of 4G” and “launch innovative fintech solutions”.

It stated Telecel is now expected to submit “strategies for employee retention” as part of the next steps.