Vodafone was confident on Friday that it could finalise a deal to win control of Vodacom, South Africa’s largest mobile phone operator, after much manoeuvring from rival groups.

Vodafone, which owns 50 per cent of Vodacom, made an offer in May to buy 12.5 per cent more from its joint venture partner, Telkom, South Africa’s leading fixed-line phone company, for $2.5bn.