By Okoh Aihe, Asst Editor, Communications
Posted to the Web: Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Smiles have become the order of the day in the organisation which only a few weeks back had its future in the balance and perhaps was wondering if it was doomed perpetually to controversy.

When Vanguard called to find out about the future of the company and the subject for the world press conference slated for Ocean View Restaurant this morning, nobody was prepared to say anything but there was no missing the hint that things are indeed changing.
The turning-point came last week when Vmobile defeated Econet Wireless International (EWI) in a London court where it had gone to seek an injunction against any take over deal of Vmobile, saying it had the right of first refusal which must be executed before any deal could be entered into.

Vanguard gathered that Vmobile’s legal team was able to prove to the court that EWI never had the cash backing for the level of business and expansion that it was going into. Antecedents perhaps also weighed against EWI for the court to give Vmobile a clean bill of health to seek a partner of it choice. During one of the crises that rocked Vmobile, the organisation informed that EWI was never able to monetise any of the shares it was given.

Once the case was disposed off, a Vmobile source told Vanguard that the coast was now clear for the company to close the deal with CELTEL, hinting that it could come sooner than expected.

For Vmobile that has always been cash-strapped, the Kuwait-based company is offering over a billion dollars, perhaps more than the amount it could ever need to face competition which has nearly eluded it these past years.

Trading as Econet Wireless Nigeria (EWN), trouble started almost immediately when it became clear that the parent company based in Zimbabwe, EWI, had no cash to put in the business beyond words for which it was very rich. The manner in which the company raised cash desperately to commence operations became quite controversial much later, and provided a source for a cocktail of litigations.

Perhaps, the worst period for Vmobile at this time was the dumping by South African Vodacom after the company claimed to have been appraised with underhand dealings by some directors of the company although would always trace the instigation to Mr. Strive Masiya who didn’t want a deal for the company other than what he as the boss of the parent company could offer.

Vodacom later dumped EWN which had to change its trading name to Vmobile. A company source told Vanguard a few months ago that if the deal with CELTEL didn’t work out, Vmobile would be in a very desperate situation.
That entire nightmare, hopefully, will come to an end today when the deal takes off and the cash which has been in the bank will change hands in favour of Vmobile.