Takeover Rumours are Back in South Africa:

Rumours of consolidation in the South African mobile market refuse to go away, with talk of a deal between MTN and Telkom returning.

Telkom set up a mobile network subsidiary in 2010, initially branded as 8ta, but the loss making division has struggled to sign up customers, even after it signed a national roaming agreement with MTN.

Now MTN is reported to be in talks with Telkom that could see it buying the struggling mobile network, which has around 1.6 million customers.

The move has been prompted in part by consolidation elsewhere that saw rival Vodacom start exclusive talks to buy Telkom rival, Neotel.

An MTN spokesperson said that "accordance with good governance MTN does not comment on market rumour and speculation,"