Consolidation is looming in the South African telecoms market, where MTN is in talks to acquire Telkom SA, to achieve greater scale with which to compete with arch-rival Vodacom. The bid is a bold one, given the probable regulatory barriers to a deal that would greatly reduce competition in a key African market. As in T-Mobile USA’s bid for Sprint, the participants will need to convince antitrust regulators that a stronger competitor for Vodacom would accelerate investment in new networks and services in South Africa, rather than reducing consumer choice or delaying key initiatives such as 5G build-out. They would also point to the presence of other mobile competitors in South Africa, although none of these has significant scale.…