Econet Wireless Global has bagged the Burundi and Central Africa Republic (CAR) telecom operations of Russian operator, VimpelCom.

This comes after VimpelCom decided to offload its stake in U-COM, which has operations in the two African countries.

VimpelCom said Monday that its 51.9% owned Global Telecom Holding had disposed of its entire shareholding in Telecel Globe Limited to Econet Wireless for $65 million.

Global Telecom held a 100% stake Telecel Globe Limited, which controlled Burundi and the CAR's U-COM. Econet, which has now acquired the interest, has diverse interests across data and mobile networks across Africa.

“We have previously outlined our Value Agenda within which our operations are reviewed to assess their future value to the Group. The decision to sell our operations in CAR and Burundi is a result of this process,” said Andrew Davies, chief Financial officer at VimpelCom.  

VimpelCom said Global Telecomm had previously agreed to sell Telecel Globe to another company last year. However, the deal had not carried through.