BSNL puts Zain purchase on hold.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has put its plan to be a part of the consortium looking to buy a stake in Kuwait’s Mobile Telecommunications Co, on hold. The decision was taken as the information sorted by Vavasi Group has still not been received.
Vavasi Group which is not yet listed in India had tied up with Al-Bukhary group of Malaysia to buy a 46% stake in Zain. It was trying to add state-owned Indian telecommunications firm like BSNL and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd., to the consortium. By joining the consortium, BSNL and MTNL seek to widen its horizon beyond India.
Earlier, Gurudas Kamat, India’s junior telecom minister had said that both MTNL and BSNL are not very serious about joining the consortium.
The state owned telecom companies are facing stiff competition from private sector companies. According to BSNL Chairman Kuldeep Goyal, BSNL’s revenue is going to be severely hit by the latest tariff war in the current financial year.
The company is planning to add 20 million working lines to its present 50 million on the global system for mobile communication platform, over the next six months. Besides, it is also planning to spend INR140 billion in the current fiscal year to expand its mobile services.
UAE: Etisalat plans India move
Etisalat is looking to enter the Indian telecommunications market as a prelude to doing business in other Asian countries such as Sri Lanka, Myanmar, the Maldives and the Philippines, a senior executive said yesterday.
The Abu Dhabi-based com pany is “studying several offers” from Middle East and Asian companies to acquire more mobile licences, Chairman Mohammed Hassan Omran said yesterday.
Although it is currently focusing on speeding up the operation of the third mobile licence in Egypt, which it obtained recently, Etisalat is “making efforts” to enter other markets, Omran told Al Emarat Al Youm.
Etisalat also recently bought a controlling stake in Pakistan Telecommunications Corporation, but lost the bidding for a 30 per cent stake in Tunisie Telecom in Tunisia.
“We are focused on the Egyptian market because it is an important market in the region, and one that is witnessing considerable growth. We will begin services on schedule in February 2007,” Omran said.
Observers say the Egypt licence witnessed strong competition between rivals, but Etisalat beat rivals from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and South Africa as well as Egypt, paying some $2.9 billion (Dh10.6bn) for the licence.
The company was earlier this month ranked sixth among 50 listed Arab companies by Forbes magazine. It took top spot in the UAE and fifth in the GCC, in the Shuaa Capital-Gulf Business report on the biggest GCC companies by market value in 2006.
Etisalat has been going global with a vengeance since it acquired the Mobily licence in Saudi Arabia for $2bn (Dh7.34bn).
In the race to acquire Telsim of Turkey, however, Etisalat’s bid of $2.51 billion (Dh9.2bn) was the lowest. Vodafone of the UK won the deal for $4.55bn (Dh17bn).
Source- http://www.zawya.com
Technorati : Etisalat, India, Maldives, Middle East, Mobile, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, UAE
Ice Rocket : Etisalat, India, Maldives, Middle East, Mobile, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, UAE
