IBM grabs $80M outsourcing deal in Bangladesh
If sources are to be believed, International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) has received a contract worth $80 million from India’s Bharti Airtel Ltd. to manage the telecommunications services provider’s technology operations in Bangladesh.
According to sources, under the 10-year contract, the U.S. software maker will manage Bharti Airtel’s information technology and data center operations, as well as look after the security of the Indian company’s network in Bangladesh. The deal also involves transferring employees and technology from Bharti Airtel’s in-house technology team in Bangladesh to IBM.
Bharti Airtel, India’s largest by subscribers, entered the Bangladesh market in January this year by acquiring a 70% stake in Warid Telecom International Ltd. for $300 million from United Arab Emirates-based Abu Dhabi Group. Bharti has more than 194 million subscribers across 19 countries, including Bangladesh.
Warid Telecom offers mobile services in all of Bangladesh’s 64 districts and has 3.6 million users as of September.
Warid’s stake not to be sold by Abu Dhabi Group
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Reports regarding the sale of stake in the Pakistani telecommunications operator Warid telecom, owned by the Abu Dhabi Group, have been denied by the company.
According to Bashir Tahir, the chief executive of the Abu Dhabi Group, Warid Telecom Pakistan is not being sold off but rather is on course with its expansion plans.
Earlier it was reported that the Abu Dhabi Group is in talks with several groups to divest a considerable shareholding along with management control in Warid Telecom. The deal would have created the largest mobile phone operator in the country.
Warid Telecom’s stake to be sold by Abu Dhabi Group
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: In order to sell controlling stake in Warid Telecom, the Abu Dhabi Group is in talks with several Pakistani telecommunications groups. If the deal materializes, it will create the largest mobile operator in the country. Although, the company denied revealing the size of the stake, it made it clear that it was looking to offload a sizeable shareholding along with management control.
30 percent stake in Warid Telecom’s Pakistani network was sold by Abu Dhabi Group in July 2007 for USD 758 million in a deal that valued the whole company at USD 2.9 billion.
According to Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and chairman of Abu Dhabi Group, the company is negotiating with PTCL and Telenor.
Warid gets a $500m loan for expansion in Pakistan
Warid Telecom (Warid), the fastest growing mobile cellular operator in Pakistan, has signed a loan agreement for $500 million to finance its nationwide EDGE-compliant mobile network expansion supplied by Ericsson in Pakistan.
The signing ceremony was held in Abu Dhabi which was attended by top global executives of EKN, ABN Amro Bank N.V., Standard Chartered Bank PLC, Ericsson, and Warid Telecom.
The $500 million loan mainly supported by Exportkreditn¤mnden (EKN) Sweden (The Swedish Exports Guarantee Board), is structured as a buyer credit facility and arranged by ABN Amro Bank N.V. and Standard Chartered Bank PLC as the Joint Lead Arrangers.
In addition, ABN Amro Bank N.V. is the Facility Agent and EKN is the agent, while Standard Chartered Bank PLC is the Intercreditor Agent. The disbursement of the facility is subject to necessary approvals including the approval from the State Bank of Pakistan.
The loan will be utilised by Warid for financing its GSM network equipment supplied by Ericsson in 2006 and 2007. Ericsson has been the key network equipment supplier for Warid. The financing will facilitate Warid’s expansion plans and enhance its mobile network capacity. It will also further enable Warid to leverage its strengths and take advantage of the huge market potential and customer growth rates in Pakistan.
The transaction carries a few firsts: The Warid financing is the single largest EKN-backed telecom financing, not just in Pakistan but also throughout the Middle East and Asia; It is the largest corporate Export Credit Agency (ECA) backed transaction since 1998 and the largest cross-border capital expenditure related telecom debt financing into Pakistan.
Wateen Telecom & Taavun is currently undertaking the rollout of new mobile networks in Bangladesh and the Republic of Congo, alongwith the recent acquisition of a telecom licence in Uganda.
The group is also in the process of setting up a Global IT solutions company — Raseen in Pakistan — in partnership with Sir Terence Mathews, Chairman of the international IP Communications giant Mitel Networks Corporation.
Warid Telecom is owned by the Abu Dhabi Group — one of the largest groups in the Middle East. The group is led by Shaikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan and it is the single largest foreign investor group in Pakistan.
Source- khaleejtimes Wireless Mobile Telecom
