South Africa’s Econet Wireless has said that its dispute over ownership of Zain Nigeria has yet to be resolved despite yesterday’s announcement from India’s Bharti that it has closed the deal. Econet Wireless owns a 5 percent stake in Zain Nigeria, the country’s second-largest mobile firm, and claims that Kuwait-based Zain ignored its right of first refusal over the sale of the business when it agreed to sell it to Bharti as part of a US$10.7 billion pan-African deal. “Econet Wireless can confirm that the dispute surrounding the ownership of the assets in Nigeria which form part of the transaction is not resolved and that Econet is not party to any agreement between Bharti Airtel and Zain,” the company noted, reports the Financial Times today. It added that the matter was currently at a tribunal constituted under the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law and before the Lagos State High Court.

In a statement yesterday, Bharti’s chairman and managing director Sunil Bharti Mittal offered his “deep gratitude and thanks to the governments of all the fifteen [African] countries as well as the government of India for their overwhelming support to this landmark event.” The apparent closure of the transaction eased fears that some national regulators and, in the case of Nigeria, minority shareholders, had opposed the deal. Nigeria is Africa’s most populous market and Zain Nigeria is the largest single business unit among the 15 mobile networks included in the deal. According to recent Wireless Intelligence analysis, Nigeria is set to become Bharti’s single largest subsidiary outside of India, accounting for about 35 percent of its international connections base.