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Wireless Federation » archive for 'Iran'

Omantel takes a step forward to enter Iranian mobile market

  • December 1st, 2008
  • 5:34 am

OMAN Telecommunication Company (Omantel) has qualified for the second stage of a competitive process for third nationwide Mobile Network Operator license in Iran, as part of a consortium comprising local and international partners. According to a press release issued by Omantel, the company’s decision to compete for the third mobile network operator in Iran comes within the framework of the efforts exerted by the company’s management to boost its local and foreign investments by joining a global consortium.

RCom may bid for Iran’s third mobile licence worth $1 Bn (India, Iran)

  • November 14th, 2008
  • 7:30 am

RCom, one of India’s leading mobile operator, is considering to bid for Iran’s third mobile licence worth $1 Bn. “Reliance has shown interest to bid for the tender and will compete with firms from Russia, Turkey and Malaysia for the tender, the bids for which will be called within a month,” claims an Iranian government official, covering 5Mn users in the first phase, 10Mn in second and 15Mn in the third phase. The Indian operator may have to compete with Qatar Telecom as a prospect bidder.

   

Telkom plans to acquire stake in TCI (Iran, Indonesia)

  • October 22nd, 2008
  • 4:54 am

Telkom, Indonesia, plans to acquire a stake in Iran’s Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI). 5% of TCI was sold by the gvernment through an IPO and intends to sell stakes further to an overseas operator.‘Telkom is ready to become its strategic partner. It is not yet certain how many shares we will acquire but if they (Iran) are willing to release up to 20% it is not impossible for us to participate,’ says Telkom’s chief commissioner, Tanri Abeng. Telkom plans to buy stakes through its subsidiary PT Telkom Internasional Indonesia. ‘The establishment of TII is part of the company’s strategy to go international to increase its non-organic income growth,’ Tanri says.

   

Nigeria becomes the No.1 mobile market in Middle East and Africa

  • October 10th, 2008
  • 5:58 am

The Nigerian mobile market has reportedly become the largest mobile market of Middle East and Africa in Q1′08, overtaking the South African market. The subscriber base has crossed the 50 million mark lately, and ended August with 55million mobile subscribers, says Engr Ernest Ndukwe, Vice Chairman of Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), becoming the 18th largest market of the world.

South Africa which is nearing the mobile penetration of 100% will be falling down to the third position in near future.

Iran has taken an upward leap from 6th to 3rd position by adding subscribers at a pace four times faster than South Africa. Following Iran comes Egypt with 30.8 million active mobile subscribers from 29.4m in March. This rise was driven by the arrival of new entrant.

Algeria and Saudi Arabia have fallen to fifth and sixth as Iran took a leap. Algeria at the end of August had crossed the 30.8 million subscribers, while Saudi Arabia had a total of 29.8million, the sudden rise comes only when nearly a million people come to visit Haj, leave the SIMs inactive once they leave.
Morocco, Kenya and Iraq, shared the same place during March. In August, Morocco stood at 21.4 million, Kenya at 14.3 million  and Iraq at 12.75 million. Tanzania retained the tenth position with 10.1 million subscribers.

   

BSNL plans foriegn investment in Africa and Middle East (India)

  • September 29th, 2008
  • 6:32 am

The Indian telco BSNL delays it’s IPO plans as it thinks of making foriegn expansion. BSNL is, reportedly, looking for oppurtunities in countries where licence auction date is nearing like Egypt, Rwanda, Malawi, Turkey and Iran.

“The government has asked us to look for opportunities abroad. Initially, we are not looking at acquisitions, but want to bid for licences and roll out operations,” said a BSNL executive.

According to a report BSNL also has a cash surplus of more than $10 billion, part of which it will use to fund its overseas expansion plan.
With the Indian markets heading towards saturation, all the telcos have to look for foriegn expansion in order to have consistency in the growth rate.
“Besides, the average revenue per user is much higher in markets abroad, including other emerging markets when compared to about $5 in India,” said the executive.
   

Iran invests $14.26 million in mobile phone production (Iran)

  • September 11th, 2008
  • 6:23 am

Renowned international companies have shown interest to cooperate with Iran for cell phone production. According to the Director General of Ministry of Industries and Mines, Iran’s technology, electronics and electricity office noted that negotiations are underway in this respect. Mobile phone production is one of the key issue for Ministry of Industries and MinesMinistry of Industries and MinesLoading, as it plays an important role in creating  jobs and generating value added. Mahmoud Layaei said, $14.26 million has been invested in mobile phone production across the country. One of the obstacle to domestic production is the illegal import of mobile phones added Layaei.

Iran will issue call for third cell phone operator tender soon

  • August 25th, 2008
  • 1:42 pm

According to the minister of communication and information technology, The international tender for Iran’s third cell phone operator will be published in newspapers soon. Mohammad Soleimani said that the project is estimated to attract some $3 billion investment. The project contract duration will be valid for 15 years and is extendable, predicting that some 15 million individuals would subscribe for the service, added official.

Iran sells 2.293 billion TCI shares at $0.157 each

  • August 11th, 2008
  • 12:53 pm

Iranian Government has started the sale of a 5% stake in state wireline monopoly Telecommunications Company of Iran (TCI).  Iran is selling 2.293 billion TCI shares at $0.157 each, valuing the stake at around $360 million. According to an  analyst, ‘The sale of these shares is a symbolic act and not real privatisation.’

Iran’s mobile market profile (Iran)

  • August 8th, 2008
  • 2:08 pm

Iran with a population over twice as high as any other of the countries of the Middle East has low mobile penetration levels. This scenario is changing and the market is seeing high mobile growth, particularly since the launch of a second national operator in late 2006. During 2007 the Iranian government announced that it would split up and sell off the state owned Telecommunications Company of Iran (TCI), as part of its program to privatise 80% of state-owned businesses. Previously the telecom market was a state-owned monopoly with the exception of retail Internet service provision.

Irancell and TCI are currently the only two mobile operators working in Iran.

MegaFon, Russia’s third largest mobile operator, is ready to invest around €3 billion ($4.6 billion) in its business in Iran. In addition, UAE-based Etisalat, the second-largest Arab phone company by market value, is considering investments in Iran’s mobile-phone market.

   

Iran plans for TCI IPO

  • August 7th, 2008
  • 9:26 am

Iran Government’s plans to propose 5% stake in national fixed line operator Telecommunication Company of Iran . According to a report, Initial public Offer (IPO) which is due to take place soon is of worth $425 million. TCI has the Monopoly among the wireline operators of Iran, also it dominates the cellular sector via its wholly owned subsidiary MCI.