Vodafone already owns half the company and is aiming to increase its holding to 62.5 per cent.

Its bid came as Vodacom’s other 50 per cent holder, South Africa’s Telkom — Africa’s biggest fixed-line phone company — received a takeover offer from a consortium led by Mvelaphanda Group, a South African investment and services firm.

Vodafone recently denied speculation it was considering a bid for Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator MTN.

It had been poised to increase its holding in Vodacom last year after Telkom held merger talks over the sale of its fixed-line business to MTN. But those talks collapsed.

Vodafone said: “We can confirm that we’re in discussions with Telkom to buy an additional stake in Voda­com. However, there are no assurances that such discussions will lead to a transaction being concluded.”

The sale to Vodafone will depend on Telkom unbundling or spinning off the remaining 37.5 per cent of Vodacom to its shareholders.