S. Africa's Vodacom Says It May Invest in Services in Ghana

Johannesburg, Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Vodacom Group Ltd., which connects six out of 10 wireless phones in South Africa, said it may invest in telecommunications services in Ghana as subscriber growth looks set to slow in South Africa.

``We're looking at several licenses in Africa and Ghana is one of the countries we're looking at,'' Vodacom's corporate affairs executive Joan Joffe said. She declined to comment on whether Vodacom planned to buy a stake in state-controlled Ghana Telecommunications Co.

Vodacom paid $39 million last month for 51 percent of a mobile operator in the Democratic Republic of Congo as it expands into African markets where less competition allows higher profits. The company, which is 50 percent owned by state-telephone monopoly Telkom SA, 31.5 percent by the U.K.'s Vodafone Group Plc and 13.5 percent by Venfin Ltd., faces slowing growth now that almost 25 percent of South Africans have a mobile phone.

``It definitely has the resources to do it, I wouldn't be surprised if in two or three years time it was involved in one or two other countries,'' said Irnest Kaplan, an analyst at SG Securities.