South African telco, Telkom, informed investors via the Johannesburg Stock Exchange news service that it had not received an offer or proposal from Rain, a South African mobile communications company.
It said it was still in discussions with MTN Group.
Recall that in July 2022, MTN and Telkom said they were in preliminary talks about a possible merger.
Meanwhile, South Africa's Takeover Regulation Panel (TRP) directed Rain to withdraw a statement regarding a proposed merger with Telkom on Thursday, August 11, 2022.
Rain announced yesterday that it had formally requested that a proposal to merge the two companies be presented to the Telkom board.
The announcement, however, was made despite the TRP's instructions to Rain that it shouldn’t be made without the TRP's prior approval.
The Takeover Regulation Panel (TRP) stated that Rain announced without first obtaining TRP approval, as required by Regulation 117 of the Companies Regulations.
Consequently, shareholders and the market are advised to disregard the announcement.
Rain believes the merger would result in a 5G powerhouse and a strong third player to compete with the "telco duopoly" of Vodacom and MTN.
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Rains says it has over 7,500 4G base stations that provide mobile and fixed broadband services and over 1,500 massive multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) 5G base stations.
Furthermore, its network covers over 6 million homes, and Rain claims to have one of the world's largest Stand Alone 5G networks.
It stated that a Telkom-Rain merger has a strong business case and is a more pro-competitive alternative to the government selling Telkom to MTN.
