Vodafone has shown a keen interest in Vodacom, the South African mobile operator, once the latest rounds of talks with its co-owner Telkom prove successful.

The UK-listed group plans to further add 12.5 percent to its already existing 50 percent holding in Vodacom, which serves 34 million subscribers across South Africa. Last year, the British telecom giant had approached Telkom, which owns the other 50 percent stake in Vodacom. However, a potential deal was ruined as it was contingent on Telkom’s dialogue with MTN regarding its fixed assets, which eventually turned out to be fruitless.

Major Telcomunications companies across the world are eyeing Africa as it is increasingly proving attractive, thereby offering huge growth opportunities to these companies to expand their operations beyond the already saturated domestic markets. At present, the biggest possible deal is the £20 billion sale of MTN, the South African firm which has its networks spread throughout the continent. Initially, though the talks were between MTN and India’s Bharti Airtel, due to a failure in the deal, it was another Indian group Reliance which grabbed the immediately opportunity.

Vodafone and Telkom, Africa’s largest fixed-line company, jointly own Vodacom. While the South African government has a 38 percent stake in Telkom, state pension administrator Public Investment Corporation holds 15 percent, and black investment group, the Elephant Consortium holds another 6 percent.