NTT DoCoMo Inc, Japan’s largest wireless operator said it’’s in talks with Middle East carriers- Qatar Telecom QSC, Emirates Telecommunications Corp. and Saudi Telecom Co., as the company intends to expand its overseas business.
While speaking in an interview, Toshinari Kunieda, senior vice-president of Global Business at DoCoMo expressed the company’s keenness in the Middle East and Africa and didn’t rule out the possibility of future partnerships with the Middle East carriers.
A stake in a Middle East firm would ensure DoMoCo an easy access to markets of Egypt and South Africa. Emirates Telecommunications and Saudi Telecom, the Arab region’s two largest phone carriers, operate in countries such as Egypt and Indonesia, while Saudi Telecom has customer base in countries like Turkey and South Africa.Earlier in the month, DoMoCo acquired 30 percent stake in Bangladesh’s mobile-phone carrier TM International Ltd. for $305 million.
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Italian holding company Weather Investments does not intend to sell any of its shares in Orascom Telecom.
The report said Orascom is seeking to buy back 12 million of its own shares for about €119 million (US$186 million).
Weather, which is owned by Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris and has a controlling stake in Orascom Telecom, said in April it would sell some of its OT shares to OT under a previous buy-back offer which ended on May 14.
The earlier buyback offer, for 106 million shares, was more than three times subscribed, but neither company announced how many shares, if any, Weather had sold, the Reuters.
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Africa recorded a 33 percent increase in cellphone subscriber numbers in the past 12 months while fixed infrastructure roll-outs remained stagnant.
The International GSM Association presented its latest findings at the International Telecommunication Union’s Telecom Africa conference held in Egypt yesterday.
Unlike South Africa, where cellphone penetration is at about 90 percent , only 282 million people out of Africa’s 922 million total population have a cellphone.
However, the number is rising sharply as operators ramp up their investment in GSM and other mobile technologies in the continent’s less accessible regions.
Tom Phillips, chief executive of the GSMA’s government and regulatory affairs officer, said: “Africa’s mobile industry is delivering on its promise to blanket the continent’s inhabitants with coverage, giving tens of thousands of people their first opportunity to realise the substantial social and economic benefits of mobile communications.
‘‘However, more than 300 million rural Africans do not yet have mobile coverage. They live in an area the size of China, India and the US combined.
‘‘Developing sustainable business models to serve these communities is a great challenge, which requires the industry and African governments to work together.”
Africa’s largest mobile operator, MTN, operates in 21 countries in emerging markets, most of which are in Africa.
The company has been a target for a potential takeover by Indian telecommunications company, Bharti Airtel.
The latest reported takeover offer of R175 per share (the current share price stands at R158) is thought to be lower than what MTN is expecting.
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Etisalat has told Reuters that it is considering a move into India’s telecoms market. ‘The market value for shares (in India) has gone down a little so it’s a good time for us to consider entry,’ said Mohammed Omran, chairman of Etisalat. ‘We could spend in the range of USD1 billion to USD3-4 billion; that depends on the opportunities and on how much of a percent we buy,’ he added. In April the company revealed that it was in talks with several Indian telecoms companies, including Spice Communications. ‘Our aim is to buy into an operator that covers most of India, and Spice is one possibility,’ Omran reiterated yesterday, although he stressed that no decision had yet been made.
Etisalat, which has operations in 16 countries and 51 million customers, has spent USD5 billion on acquisitions in the last four years alone. Assets acquired by the company since 2004 have doubled in value and are now worth USD10 billion. ‘Our target is that international operations contribute 20% to 30% of net profits in three to four years,’ he stated, adding the segment had contributed ‘very little’ in 2007.
Omran also revealed that Etisalat is preparing a bid for a second fixed line licence in Egypt and said the company expected its mobile operations there to become profitable by early 2010. ‘We think we will make the right bid. Because we are a mobile operator, we are in a better position than others to bid for a licence.’
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- April 11th, 2008
- 12:58 pm
Orascom Telecom, the Egyptian wireless group with operations across seven countries including Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia, plans to launch a new company offering banking services to its 70 million customers. Speaking to the Financial Times, chairman Naguib Sawiris said the new company would offer customers the chance to use their mobiles to access banking services, including money transfer. Mobile banking is expected to become an important revenue source for cellcos in emerging markets, where many people do not have conventional bank accounts because charges can be high and retail banking branches scarce.
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- February 19th, 2008
- 2:16 pm
The number of mobile phone subscribers in Egypt reached 30.047 million at the end of 2007, up from 29.368 million in November and 18.001 million at the end of 2006, according to figures from the ICT ministry. Mobile penetration was at 40.62 percent of the population at year-end. Fixed-line density increased marginally to 15.2 percent at the end of 2007 from 15 percent a year earlier, while internet use was at 11.7 out of every 100 inhabitants versus 8.3 in 2006. Internet use rose to 8.62 million users, versus 8.29 million in November. The number of ADSL users increased to 427,085 from 394,875 in November and was more than double the figure at the end of 2006.
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- February 1st, 2008
- 11:58 am
Telecom Egypt and Alcatel-Lucent have signed a USD 125 million contract to deploy a new submarine cable network linking Sidi Kerir in Egypt to Marseille in France. The project, named TE North, will enable Telecom Egypt to expand international connectivity, providing diversity from existing cable routes. The TE North submarine cable system will allow Telecom Egypt to enhance its network capacity to operate as a wholesale carrier and expand its service offering to businesses and consumers. Spanning 3,100 km, TE North can deliver an ultimate capacity of 128 x 10Gbps on eight fibre pairs that will allow Telecom Egypt to provide broadband services to its business and residential users. It will further establish Egypt’s role as an international communication hub between Europe and Asia/Africa, and it will also reinforce the city of Marseille as a communications hub with open access facilities. The Alcatel-Lucent submarine service will be based on its 1620 Light Manager IP DWDM submarine platform, and will also include cable, branching units and submarine repeaters, providing direct connectivity to landing stations.
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- November 8th, 2007
- 2:44 pm
Orascom Telecom and Telecom Egypt are in talks to sell their fixed-line joint venture in Algeria, Lacom. Orascom chairman Nagiub Sawiris confirmed that negotiations are underway but declined to name the potential buyer, Reuters reports. He said Lacom had suffered from preferential treatment from the Algerian authorities for the incumbent operator Algerie Telecom, a problem which could limit the chance of selling Lacom.
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- November 6th, 2007
- 1:28 pm
Egyptian mobile group Orascom Telecom is considering entering the upcoming auction for one of two state-owned Lebanese mobile network operators, its chairman Naguib Sawiris said yesterday. The Egyptian tycoon dismissed risks of political instability in the country, saying that the main problem would be high prices set by the Lebanese government, which hopes to raise as much as USD7 billion from the sale on 21 February. Sawiris said his group, which has stakes in countries including Iraq, Zimbabwe and Pakistan, was used to political and security risks. ‘This is normal for us…Beirut is like a safe haven,’ he told press. At present, Lebanon’s only two mobile networks – MTC Touch Lebanon and Alfa – are managed under government contracts by Kuwaiti-based Zain Group (formerly MTC Group) and German-Saudi consortium DeTeCon respectively. The state also intends to issue a third mobile licence to fixed line incumbent Ogero Telecom (which will be renamed Liban Telecom). Bahrain’s Batelco has also said it is planning investments in Lebanon as part of a USD4 billion foreign acquisition plan, whilst Zain Group has announced a plan to bid in the auction to remain in the country, although it too has expressed concern over high prices.
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- November 6th, 2007
- 1:28 pm
Egyptian mobile group Orascom Telecom is considering entering the upcoming auction for one of two state-owned Lebanese mobile network operators, its chairman Naguib Sawiris said yesterday. The Egyptian tycoon dismissed risks of political instability in the country, saying that the main problem would be high prices set by the Lebanese government, which hopes to raise as much as USD7 billion from the sale on 21 February. Sawiris said his group, which has stakes in countries including Iraq, Zimbabwe and Pakistan, was used to political and security risks. ‘This is normal for us…Beirut is like a safe haven,’ he told press. At present, Lebanon’s only two mobile networks – MTC Touch Lebanon and Alfa – are managed under government contracts by Kuwaiti-based Zain Group (formerly MTC Group) and German-Saudi consortium DeTeCon respectively. The state also intends to issue a third mobile licence to fixed line incumbent Ogero Telecom (which will be renamed Liban Telecom). Bahrain’s Batelco has also said it is planning investments in Lebanon as part of a USD4 billion foreign acquisition plan, whilst Zain Group has announced a plan to bid in the auction to remain in the country, although it too has expressed concern over high prices.
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Japan’s DoCoMo sets eyes on Middle East wireless market (Japan)
