Mobily will bid for second licence
GulfNews writes…Saudi mobile telecom operator Mobily will bid for the kingdom’s second fixed line licence, the company announced yesterday.
Mobily, the brand name for Etihad Etisalat, a consortium of companies led by the UAE’s etisalat, will join current bidder Integrated Telecom Co. (ITC), a Saudi internet services provider. Telecom Egypt is also rumoured to be in the running for the license.
The move would enable the operator to begin offering converged fixed-mobile services through one bill and one fibre-optic network, which the telecom is currently rolling out throughout the nation.
“The whole world is going into the trend of converging the fixed with the mobile,” said Mobily chief executive Khalid Al Kaf in a statement.
Mobily operates the country’s third mobile license and has six million mobile subscribers, including a half million 3G subscribers. The deadline for submitting bids to the Saudi Communications and Information Technology Commission is March 10.
