Didata buys Moroccan stake

Johannesburg - Specialist IT group Dimension Data (Didata) has extended its Northern Africa foothold by acquiring a 51% stake in Morocco's Télédistribution et Communication SARL (Telcom), a company operating in the telecommunications infrastructure space.

"Didata's acquisition of a majority stake in Telcom enhances our plans to be represented in the four corners of emerging Africa," Didata Middle East & Africa chairperson Andile Ngcaba said.

"Morocco has a relatively well developed ICT sector, as evidenced by the high mobile and internet penetration rates," he said. The country has a 58% cellphone usage penetration with 21m subscribers, and a 21% penetration of internet usage with 7.3m users.

A recent report by research group IDC forecast the total Moroccan ICT sector size of close to $4.8bn to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.8%. Of this ICT market, just over $1bn relates to IT products and services, forecast to grow at a CAGR of 6.9%.

The company will be rebranded as Dimension Data Maroc. There are plans to grow the firm's core business as well as the network integration, Microsoft solutions and advanced infrastructure divisions.

"In time, we will introduce our data centre and storage offerings to the region," said Ngcaba. He said Microsoft and network management group Cisco are committed to growing market share with Dimension Data in the region.

This acquisition follows three months after Dimension Data sold a 49% stake in Dimension Data Tanzania to the Tanzanian-based WiA Group.

- Fin24.com