Vodafone sells out of Fiji

Vodafone said Tuesday that it has struck an agreement to sell its entire 49 per cent shareholding in Vodafone Fiji to the Fiji National Provident Fund for a cash consideration of FJ$160m (£51m).

The move takes Fiji National Provident’s indirect stake in the company to around 79 per cent.

In Fiji, Vodafone competed against the only other mobile licensee, Digicel. But the company said that it expects to continue to have a presence in Fiji through a partner market agreement.

The Vodafone network in Fiji also supports local MVNO Inkk Mobile.

Vodafone has of late been offloading non-core operations and refocusing on its home market of Europe where it continues to struggle.

Earlier this year the company finally struck a deal to sell out of US operation Verizon Wireless in a move that should net it $130bn. And as it looks to shore up its European operations, in March the operator announced the acquisition of private equity-owned Spanish cable operator Ono for €7.2bn. Ono offers high speed broadband and pay TV services in Spain and Vodafone said that the transaction will accelerate its unified communications strategy “in a highly converged European market”.