Etisalat surpasses 100m subscribers across 18 markets
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The subscribers’ base of Etisalat exceeded 100 million across its 18 markets in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. The announcement came shortly after the acquisition of additional share equal to 18% in “Atlantic Telecom”, thus increasing the shareholding to 100%.
Apart from this, Etisalat has also given an application to the Indian Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), to obtain approval to raise its 45% stake in its Indian subsidiary Etisalat DB to 50% plus one share.
Net Revenues of AED 30.83 billion and Net Profits of AED 8.836 billion has been recently announced by the company thus marking an increase of a 5% and 16% respectively, compared to 2008.
Bharti going after Zain with a $10.7 bln offer
Bharti is eyeing the african market all over again, with an offer of $10.7 billion for Zain’s african operations.
With acquisition talks abuzz, Zain’s share price on the Kuwait Stock Exchange has risen by more than a fifth in about a week, raising it’s value to $16.2 billion.
Zain – Recent Developments
- Earlier in Feb, Zain CEO Al-Barrak handed his resignation to the Chairman of the board. The New Zain CEO is ex-minister Nabil Bin Salama.
- In August 2009, Reliance Communications started talks to buy Zain’s African operations.
- Etisalat was also a suitor for a 51% stake in Zain at the “right price”.
- Zain operates in 23 countries. Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund is Zain’s biggest shareholder with a 24.6% stake and the Kharafi Group is the second largest shareholder with 13.7%.
-In 2008, Zain reported revenues of 2 billion dinars (USD 6.96 billion) and net profit of 322 million dinars. Current liabilities stood at 1.5 billion dinars at the end of March 2009.
- In May 2009, Zain announced a rare cut of 2,000 jobs of its 15,500 workforce, signalling that the expansion was probably being re-visited. Zain has spent in excess of USD 12 billion in Africa since 2005.
For more news on Zain please visit this link: http://wirelessfederation.com/news/?s=zain
Subscribe to Wifed News RSS on Zain Here: http://wirelessfederation.com/news/feed?s=zain
Etisalat gains 100% ownership of AT
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: With an aim to enhance its profile in India and Africa, Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) will boost up its stake in the Indian unit Etisalat DB and buying the rest of its West African venture, Atlantique Telecom (AT).
Currently, 44.73% of Etisalat DB is owned by the UAE telco, acquired for around USD900 million in 2008. The company seeks to raise its stake to 50%, plus one share. An application was filed by Etisalat in December 2009 to the Indian Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to obtain approval to increase its ownership.
Etisalat operates AT as part of a ten-year management contract ending in 2015, and has bought the remaining 18% of shares in AT to bring its total shareholding to 100%.
Etisalat’s stake in Atlantic Telecom rises to 100%
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: With an investment of USD 75 million, 18% stake in Atlantique Telecom has been acquired by UAE-based operator Etisalat, thus increasing its shareholding to 100 percent.
82 percent in the African company Atlantique Telecom has already been held by Etisalat while the former holds controlling stakes in telecom operators in Ivory Coast, Benin, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Niger, Togo and Central Africa Republic.
Atlantique Telecom has been operated by Etisalat under the 10-year management contract ending in April 2015.
40.8% rise in Etisalat’s Q4 net profit
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The fourth-quarter net profit of Emirates Telecommunications Corp., or Etisalat rose 40.8% year-on-year to 1.98 billion U.A.E. dirhams ($543 million). Full-year net profit rose 3.8% to AED8.836 billion from AED8.511 billion, while earnings per share for the year hit AED1.23 compared with AED1.18 in 2008.
According to Etisalat Chairman Mohammed Omran, these results highlight that Etisalat has followed the correct strategy by following a selective policy in our international investments and the company has been successful in reducing our operational expenditure, which further enhances our performance.
16% rise in Etisalat’s net profit
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: With a rise of 16%, AED 8.83 billion net profit up from AED 8.51 billion in 2008 has been generated by UAE-based operator Etisalat in the year 2009. The profit also includes AED 892 million profits on the sale of shares in its Saudi unit Mobily.
5% increase in the net revenue rising to AED 30.8 billion and earnings per share to AED 1.23 from AED 1.18 in 2008 has also been recorded. The number of mobile users in the UAE exceeded 7.74 million lines in 2009, an increase of 6 percent against end-2008.
Etisalat postpones bond issue plan
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: AED1.8 billion (USD489 million) bond issue planned by UAE-based telecoms operator Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) has been postponed as the company has sufficient cash to fund expansion. Etisalat might issue the bond at a later stage.
At September, 2009, Etisalat had 94 million subscribers across 16 markets across the Middle East and Africa and aims to reach the 100 million customer milestone worldwide during 2010.
Etisalat to pay USD800 million to PTCL by March 2010 (Pakistan)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: USD800 million will be paid by UAE-based Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) to the Pakistani government by the end of March 2010 as part of its 2006 acquisition of 26% stake in Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL).
According to Pakistan’s minister of privatisation, Waqar Ahmed Khan, only USD1.14 billion of the USD2.6 billion purchase price has been received so far, with issues surrounding a transfer of 3,000 real estate units; under the terms of the acquisition the government agreed to transfer the properties before Etisalat made the full payment.
Payment of the outstanding balance in equal installments over five years was announced by Etisalat in December last year.
India’s mobile market eyed by Vivendi France
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Vivendi France may take over 51% of the India’s Datacom Solutions. Two rounds of talk have taken place between the officials of Vivendi and Datacom team and both the sides will meet again in a few weeks to take the discussion forward.
Owned by Videocon group, Datacom solutions has also attempted to sell a stake to Etisalat or Turkcell foundered during the credit crunch. Rumors were also there that America Movil or France Telecom could be interested in acquiring a stake in the company.
Datacom already has radio spectrum covering 21 of India’s 22 circles and have the advantage of its parent’s vast distribution network for selling phones and SIM cards, despite the late launch. Earlier, it was said that the firm is planning a US$2.8 billion GSM tender, but nothing seems to have happened since that was announced.
