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Wireless Federation » archive for 'Sudan'

Zain posts a subscriber base of 56.3Mn in Q3′08

  • October 23rd, 2008
  • 10:19 am

Zain, Middle East and African mobile operator posts its Q3′08 results. The net profits rose to $326.6 million, up by 7%. Zain’s revenues grew to $1.887 billion, climbing 25% and EBITDA rose to $763.6 million, up by 20%. Zain had a subscriber base of 56.3 million at September end, seeing a 54% rise since September 2007.
Profits seemed a bit sluggish due to its cost to launch in Saudi Arabia, where it claimed 1 million subscribers in 2 months. Zain Kuwait contributed considerably to the profits along with Bahrain. In Iraq, Sudan and Jordan it faces a challenging market.
Looking at Africa, Zain plans to launch in Ghana by year end, in Nigeria operations are undergoing heavy investments to support growth , while Tanzania, Uganda and Madagascar are doing very well.

   

Canartel expects a mobile licence by 2008 end (Sudan)

  • October 16th, 2008
  • 5:44 am

Sudan’s second fixed-line operator Canartel is positive about securing a mobile licence by the year end along with expansion of it’s fixed-line service across the nation.
According to the chief corporate affairs officer Canartel, Mohammed Bouhelal, the licence will cost hundereds of millions of dollars and now the descision lies with the higher officials and will be announced by the it’s parent company Etisalat in near future.
Canartel’s majority stakes are owned by Etisalat and the Sudanese government holds a 26% stake as well. UAE which an investor in Sudan, second to China, makes it easier for Canartel to be in a decent position for the mobile licence.

Bouhelal is confident that the telco under Etisalat’s umberella will be an advatageous position to establish itself as a mobile operator in Sudan and to offer profitable roaming deals  to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. He also expects that it’s entry to the Sudanese mobile market will take the current 30% mobile penetration to 60% within two years of time.

   

Mobily’s roaming subscribers to enjoy free incoming calls (Saudi Arabia)

  • October 13th, 2008
  • 6:34 am

Mobily, the Saudi Arabian mobile operator, has launched a new mobile tariff plan, wherein the subscribers can recieve local and international calls for free in 56 countries.
Mobily’s new call tariffs is a part of one of the largest roaming agreements which involves more than 100 GSM mobile operators across the globe.
The countries covered will be the UAE, Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, Sudan, Libya, France, Switzerland, Japan, Finland, Denmark and Norway.
The new service also allow receipt of free SMS from the operating network in 51 nations, in other 5 Arab nations, the subscribers will have to select the operator.
Now the mobily subscribers can be mobile from one network to the other and that too free of cost. A one-minute call to any GCC country will cost 44 halalahs, Jordan 80, India 72, Iraq 92, and Yemen 80.

Batelco gives it’s subscribers, ‘Batelco World Freedom’ (Bahrain)

  • September 26th, 2008
  • 5:26 am

Batelco (Bahrain Telecommunications Company) introduces a new service for it’s subscribers, ‘Batelco World Freedom’. This new service will allow it’s subscribers to recieve free incoming calls from across the world in 21 nations. Subscribers who roam in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Algeria, Norway, Luxemburg, Sudan, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Albania, Armenia, Bosnia, Croatia, Estonia, Georgia, Moldova, Mozambique, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia will be able to use the service.

   

Zain launches network in southern Sudan

  • April 29th, 2008
  • 3:03 pm

Zain Sudan has launched a GSM network in southern Sudan as part of a USD150 million plan to provide services in the formerly embattled region. The cellco has already spent over USD500 million in Sudan, although the bulk of the expenditure has been directed towards the north of the country. ‘We now have a vastly improved service … with 50 antennas across the South,’ said CEO Khaled Muhtadi. He added that the company may have around 150,000 customers in the south, but because lines had been sold on the black market it was difficult to know exactly. Southern Sudan is currently recovering from a long running civil war with the North that has hampered investment in the area.

   

 

Etisalat takes control of Canar by increasing stake to 82% (UAE)

  • January 9th, 2008
  • 2:47 pm

UAE-based operator Emirates Telecommunications (Etisalat) has taken control of Sudan’s Canar Telecommunications by almost doubling its stake to 82 percent, writes Reuters. Etisalat did not say how much it paid for the additional 45 percent in Canar. The company could not be reached for comment. Etisalat chairman Mohammad Hassan Omran had told Reuters in an interview in November 2007 that the company was considering new investments of up to USD 5 billion in Africa.

   

Alcatel-Lucent wins Teams undersea cable contract in Kenya (Kenya)

  • October 12th, 2007
  • 12:18 pm

Alcatel-Lucent has won a USD 82 million tender to construct a submarine fibre-optic cable linking Kenya and the UAE. Kenyan government Information Permanent Secretary Bitange Ndemo said the firm beat Tyco Telecommunication, Fujistu, NEC and Huawei Technologies for the contract to build the East Africa Marine system (TEAMs) undersea cable. Ndemo said assessment of the bids was based on technical capability, pricing and proposed time frame for completion of the project. The project is expected to take 16 months to complete and ownership will be 40 percent government, 15 percent UAE operator Etisalat and 45 percent for local private investors and regional countries. Ndemo said Ethiopia, Southern Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo have applied for use of the cable. The undersea cable is expected to cut internet costs in east African countries by up to a third over five years and stimulate investment in the region.

   

Sudatel pays USD 200 mln for Senegalese licence (Sudan)

  • September 11th, 2007
  • 11:25 am

Sudanese operator Sudatel has received a telecommunication licence from Senegalese regulator ARTP, reports Agence de Presse Senegalaise. Sudatel bid USD 200 million compared to Bintel’s USD 152 million and Celtel’s USD 105 million offers to win the global licence, enabling entry to all telecommunication segments, according to ARTP director general Daniel Seck. Belgacom and Comium Africa had also expressed interest. Under the licence terms, the new company must be at least 15 percent owned by local interests. The government has called on Senegalese operators to buy a stake in Sudatel’s local unit. Rothschild and Clifford Chance provided financial and legal advice on the auction process. The last such licence was awarded to Senetel for USD 100,000 in 1998.

   

Sudatel pays USD 200 mln for Senegalese licence (Sudan)

  • September 11th, 2007
  • 6:58 am

Sudanese operator Sudatel has received a telecommunication licence from Senegalese regulator ARTP, reports Agence de Presse Senegalaise. Sudatel bid USD 200 million compared to Bintel’s USD 152 million and Celtel’s USD 105 million offers to win the global licence, enabling entry to all telecommunication segments, according to ARTP director general Daniel Seck. Belgacom and Comium Africa had also expressed interest. Under the licence terms, the new company must be at least 15 percent owned by local interests. The government has called on Senegalese operators to buy a stake in Sudatel’s local unit. Rothschild and Clifford Chance provided financial and legal advice on the auction process. The last such licence was awarded to Senetel for USD 100,000 in 1998.

   

MTC rebrands as Zain (Kuwait)

  • September 10th, 2007
  • 2:35 pm

Kuwait-based international cellular group MTC has changed its name to Zain. The group has rebranded its mobile operations in four countries – Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and Sudan – with immediate effect, with its businesses in 17 other Middle East and African countries to be renamed in 2007/08.