Ghana and Vodafone

Vodafone completes purchase of Ghana Telecom stake

British mobile phone giant Vodafone said Monday it had completed the purchase of a 70-percent stake in state-run Ghana Telecommunications.

"Further to the ... approval from the Ghanaian Parliament, Vodafone announces today that it has completed the acquisition of a 70 percent stake in Ghana Telecom for 900 million dollars," or 610 million euros, a statement said.

Last week, the Ghanaian parliament ratified the controversial sale, which the country's opposition had argued was a sellout.

The purchase, worth 483 million pounds and announced last month, sees the government of Ghana retain a 30-percent holding.

The deal values the nation's leading fixed line operator at about 1.3 billion dollars.

In recent years, Vodafone has sought aggressive expansion into emerging markets in Asia and Africa, as it looks to combat weakening sales and fierce competition in Western markets.

Ghana Telecom is the west African country's third largest mobile phone group with 1.4 million customers or 17 percent of the market.