Pan-African telecoms firm Millicom has announced the sale of its Tigo business in Senegal to Wari Group for US$129 million as the company continues to restructure its African operations.

It first emerged last year that Millicom was looking to discard its assets in West and Central Africa to focus on East Africa, where it operates in Tanzania and Rwanda.

The company, which has been pressurised by regulators to extend its rural networks, sold its assets in the Democratic Republic of Congo to Orange in February of last year for US$160 million, and has now followed that up by selling Tigo Senegal to Wari Group, a Senegal-based digital financial services platform.

"With the support of the people of Senegal we have been able to empower millions of customers with mobile technology, and to help promote social and financial inclusion across the country. We are grateful to all of our employees, whose drive and commitment has enabled Tigo Senegal to become such a strong and sustainable business and are confident that Wari Group will build on the current strength of Tigo Senegal," said Mauricio Ramos, CEO of Millicom.

Wari CEO Kabirou Mbodje said his company's acquisition of Tigo illustrated Wari was driving the shift towards an ecosystem that provides social added value and is tailored for Senegalese and African customers' needs.

"By pooling the advantages of mobile telephony offered by Tigo and the world of benefits provided by Wari, a leading platform for digital financial services, we combine the expertise, energies and ambitions of our teams and our two groups in order to offer more convenient and affordable services to users," Mbodje said.

Recent reports have suggested Millicom has been in discussions with Bharti Airtel over a possible merger in Ghana, while investment research firm Zacks recently cut shares of the company from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell".