Huwaiti mobile phone operator MTC has announced plans to enter the African market, paying $3.3 billion for Celtel. It is considering a flotation in London. Celtel has 5.2 million customers in 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa including Chad, Niger, Sierra Leone and Tanzania. The company, which made a pre-tax profit of $186 million last year on revenues of $714 million, is owned by Anglo-Sudanese businessman Mohamed Ibrahim, the Africa Infrastructure Fund and a number of US venture capital firms.

The deal will more than double the size of MTC, which has over 3 million customers.