International telecoms and media company Millicom has announced plans to sell the 50% stake of its Emtel business in Mauritius to its partner, Currimjee Jeewanjee & Co.

The two companies signed an agreement whereby Currimjee is set to purchase Millicom’s share in Emtel. The Mauritius telco is a joint venture between Currimjee Jeewanjee & Co. Ltd. and Millicom International Cellular SA.

According to a press statement, the deal will enable Currimjee to consolidate its shareholding in Emtel as part of a strategy to further reinforce its position in the telecoms and media sectors in Mauritius.

The deal; however, is subject to approval by Mauritian authorities, the statement revealed.

"We wish our partners at Currimjee and colleagues at Emtel well for the future. We have had many years of fruitful collaboration in Mauritius and we look forward to them prospering under the new ownership arrangement whilst we concentrate our resources on developing operations in Africa and Latin America," said Arthur Bastings, executive vice president, Africa at Millicom.

Millicom, which focuses on emerging markets in Latin America and Africa, plans to execute its strategy to focus on its major investments in those regions.

Millicom operates in other parts of Africa, such as Tanzania and Rwanda, under the brand name Tigo.

Anil Currimjee, managing director of Currimjee Jeewanjee & Co added, "Twenty five years after we launched Emtel, we are pleased to be able to enhance our investment in Emtel. We are pioneers in this sector and are delighted to continue to participate in the strong growth perspective of the company, the telecommunications and media sectors, and of the Mauritian economy."

Statistics regarding Emtel’s subscriber base are not disclosed in Millicom Q2 Results, released on 16 July 2014.

But according to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, Emtel had a 37.8% share in Mauritius’ wireless market in 2012.

Mauritius has over 1 million mobile connections with penetration above 100%, according to BuddeComm research.