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KTC signs SMS and GSM deals with 450 international operators (Kuwait)

  • August 5th, 2008
  • 2:12 pm

Kuwait Telecommunications Company, third telecom services company in Kuwait, has announced that it has signed SMS and GSM deals with 450 international telecom operators in 185 countries.KTC’s agreement, which was supervised by Etisalat, is to provide mobile phone services for subscribers.
The deal was signed by Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Badran, the Project Manager for KTC’s Third Mobile Telecom License program in Kuwait, and Ali Amiri, Etisalat’s Executive Vice President for Operations.
Al-Badran showed interest in entering the Kuwaiti market with a strong impact by signing of the new deals, the company was looking forward to cooperate with other major regional companies.

   

STC gazes at MENA expansion (Kuwait)

  • July 31st, 2008
  • 8:56 am

CEO of STC quoted that STC eyes Middle East and North Africa (MENA) expansion . $6.7 billion has already spent by Arab world’’s largest telecom firm over the previous 13 months in deals that opened markets spanning from India to South Africa and Turkey. STC said they wanted to buy the 25 percent stake the Oman government is selling in Oman Telecommunications Co (Omantel). “We have a desire for other takeovers, but things depend on their maturity and their right timing and any license in any Gulf Arab country that can be offered could be the subject of our interest,” Chief Executive Saud AlـDuweish, STC, said.

Primarily STC will target markets that offer strong growth potential that would generate sustainable revenues from abroad, he said.

Consent to carrier sale and 3rd mobile operator in Kuwait

  • July 22nd, 2008
  • 6:42 am

Kuwait gave the final nod for the privatisation plans of loss-making Kuwait Airways Corp [KA.UL] (KAC) and to set up a third mobile operator. Kuwait’s parliament in January approved a long-delayed government plan to sell 40 percent of the carrier to the public and 35 percent to a long-term investor within two years.

Communications Minister Abdulrahman al-Ghunaim said that the privatisation was expected to be concluded at the end of next year or earlier depending on a planned evaluation of the carrier’s assets.The plan still has to be approved by the Gulf Arab state’s emir, who usually signs government-endorsed bills. The cabinet approved plans for a third mobile operator in the Gulf Arab state, of which 50 percent would be sold in an initial public offering to citizens, he further added.

Saudi Telecom 7010.SE, which last year won the third mobile licence, will hold a 26 percent stake in the company which is expected to launch operations later this year.

The new company, in which the government will retain a 24 percent stake, will compete with Mobile Telecommunications Co (ZAIN.KW: Quote, Profile, Research) (Zain) and National Mobile Telecommunications Co (NMTC.KW: Quote, Profile, Research) (Wataniya), a unit of Qatar Telecommunications Co (Qtel) QTEL.QA.

Zain still has eyes on foreign expansion (Kuwait)

  • July 5th, 2008
  • 1:20 pm

Kuwait-based operator secures $4.53 billion capital hike green light for overseas investments.
Zain this week said it has been given government approval for a $4.53 billion capital increase in order to fund its foreign expansion plans, reported the Middle East North Africa Financial Network. 

Under the terms of the Kuwaiti mobile operator’s inception decree, it requires the government to OK any capital hikes.

Zain, formerly known as Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC), has repeatedly stated its desire for inorganic growth, particularly in the Middle East and Africa.

“We are looking at expanding in Africa and in the next six to 12 months we will definitely take on three African operations,” said Zain Africa CEO Chris Gabriel, in recent press reports.

He also said that the company is exploring the potential of becoming South Africa’s fourth mobile provider, a licence for which is set to be made available by the government in 2009.

In the Middle East, Zain bought 100% of Iraqi operator Iraqna Telecom from Egypt’s Orascom at the end of 2007 for $1.2 billion.

Also last year, the operator successfully led a consortium that bid $6.1 billion for Saudi Arabia’s third mobile licence. Reports in mid-June said that Zain was gearing up to launch trial network operations that will run until September.

Recent reports have also linked the telco to a possible merger with India’s Bharti Airtel, a claim dismissed by both companies on Thursday, although Zain has confirmed it is studying growth opportunities in the country.

In fact, as Total Telecom Magazine featured in March, Zain has made 20 acquisitions totalling $15 billion in the Middle East and Africa since April 2003. And it isn’t the only operator in the region aggressively extending its reach.

Qatar Telecom (QTel) this week filed a tender offer for all the outstanding shares of Indosat, having paid $1.8 billion for a 40.8% stake in the Indonesian mobile operator in June.

U.A.E.-based operator Etisalat in May raised its stake in West African player Atlantic Telecom to 82%. Atlantic owns majority stakes in telcos in the Ivory Coast, Benin, Burkina Faso, Gabon and Togo, amongst others.

In the same month the company said it was exploring the possibility of launching a bid for South Africa’s MTN, which is currently in the midst of what has become a complex series of negotiations with India’s Reliance Communications.

What’s more Etisalat this week signed an MoU with France Telecom to collaborate on home services and content, as well as an agreement to put in place preferred international roaming within each other’s footprint.

Meanwhile, the French incumbent is also on the expansion trail, revealing that it has not ruled out the possibility of partnering with Algeria’s Djezzy, owned by Orascom, as a means of entering the north-east African country.

   

Zain interested in SA licence (South Africa)

  • June 9th, 2008
  • 3:05 pm

Kuwait’s Zain Group has said it is eyeing a mobile licence which could become available in South Africa next year. The country already has three established operators – Vodacom, MTN and Cell-C – who were sharing almost 45.4 million subscribers at the end of March 2008. A report from Reuters cites Zain Africa’s CEO Chris Gabriel, who says: ‘We are interested in the South African market and we heard reports about a fourth mobile licence coming up.’ He adds: ‘If there is an opportunity we will definitely consider it.’ Last month, Khotso Khumalo, the chairman of the country’s parliamentary portfolio committee, told journalists at a media briefing that the government will license a fourth mobile operator and a third fixed line operator in 2009 though no further details have been revealed.

   

 

Kuwaiti investors claim to have second mobile licence in Comoros

  • April 22nd, 2008
  • 2:53 pm

Unconfirmed reports suggest that a group of Kuwaiti investors have obtained a licence to become the second mobile operator in the archipelago of Comoros. A spokesman for the Arab group, Bachar Kiwan, says they will initially focus on telecoms and banking in the islands, and plan to invest USD40 million of a total USD56 million investment to get the wireless service off the ground. Kiwan’s group, Comoro Gulf Holding, is 90% owned by a Kuwaiti prince and other Arab investors. The other 10% is held by the government of Comoros.

   

 

Vodafone wins Qatar mobile licence (Qatar)

  • December 11th, 2007
  • 2:45 pm

Vodafone has won the second mobile licence in Qatar, according to an announcement from local regulator IctQatar. Vodafone and its partner the Qatar Foundation submitted the highest bid in the auction for the licence, beating out rivals Verizon, AT&T, MTC and Etisalat. The winner is expected to launch services in 2008, competing against incumbent operator Qatar Telecom. The regulator did not provide any details on how much Vodafone will pay for the licence. This will be Vodafone’s first self-run operation in the Middle East; it previously had partner agreements with MTC in Kuwait and Bahrain.

   

Orascom to join Zain, Batelco in Lebanon mobile auction (Egypt)

  • 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.

   

 

Orascom to join Zain, Batelco in Lebanon mobile auction (Egypt)

  • 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.

   

 

IPO only open to locals (Kuwait)

  • October 3rd, 2007
  • 1:46 pm

The government of Kuwait has confirmed that a sale of shares in the country’s yet-to-launch third mobile operator will only be open to Kuwaiti nationals. The initial public offering (IPO) is due early next year and is being managed by the Kuwait Investment Authority. 50% of the cellco will be sold to the public; a 26% stake is currently up for sale to a strategic investor, with bids being invited until 18 November. The government will retain a 24% interest in the company which will compete with market leader Zain, formerly MTC-Vodafone, and Wataniya.