Photo by: Duane Daws
The Competition Tribunal hearings into telecommunications giant Telkom’s buy-out of information and communication technology firm Business Connexion (BCX) would convene from July 30 to August 7.
This followed the Competition Commission’s approval of the R2.67-billion deal with conditions in May.
In an update to shareholders on Tuesday, Telkom said that, other than the Tribunal thumbs up, the only approvals left to be secured was, to a degree, from the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa).
Telkom had announced in February that it had, however, withdrawn an application to Icasa for the transfer of licences from BCX to Telkom.
Telkom and BCX had applied to Icasa in August 2014 for written approval for a change in control to Telkom; however, on review, Telkom said “the view has been taken that [this] would not be required”.
“It is the opinion of both companies [Telkom and BCX] that the transfer of the control of the licences will not be required at this stage and that existing licences will be appropriate for continued compliance,” Telkom managing executive for group communication Jacqui O’Sullivan told Engineering News Online in February.
Final approval would then be obtained from the Takeover Regulation Panel.
The parties also extended the long-stop date for the deal to August 31 to “cater” for the outstanding regulatory approvals.