By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-MTN Group, Africa’s largest telecoms firm is seeking to buy Visafone Communications to boost its market share in Nigeria, a Reuters report on Friday quoted a source familiar with the deal.

The report says Visafone was set up eight (8) years ago to deliver voice and broadband services through mobile and fixed telecom platforms following Jim Ovia’s acquisition of three (3) operators.

According to the report, a source close to the discussion affirmed that the deal is done and that both firms were almost signing the papers.

While another source was quoted as saying that talks would conclude very soon.

The report added that both sources did not say how much MTN would spend on the purchase and how big a stake in Visafone it would take up.

Data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) say Visafone grew its subscriber base from 30,000 after the acquisitions in 2007, to 2.2 million at the end of 2014.

The report disclosed that Visafone operating with CDMA technology platforms most suited for broadband and data services have faced stiff competition from more established rivals such as India’s Bharti Airtel, Dubai-based Etisalat and MTN, hitting the industry’s average revenue per user (ARPU).

Reuters further affirmed that ARPU, a key gauge of telecoms firms’ competitiveness as well as of consumer spending trends, has declined over the past three (3) years to $5 from $8 as competition deepens.

Nigeria is MTN’s biggest revenue base providing more than a third of overall turnover with nearly 60 million users in 2014, about 27 percent of its entire subscriber base across 22 countries.