Telecom & ITC

Growth strategies in the Middle East telecom landscape

Over the past three years, the Middle East telecom sector has been witnessing tremendous growth in terms of telecom subscribers and mobile penetration rates, especially in GCC countries. However, most markets are reaching saturation levels.

The sector witnessed a phenomenal compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 44 percent between 2003 and 2007, with subscribers increasing from 24 million to 103 million. This growth is also reflected in mobile penetration rates, most notably in the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain, where penetration levels have reached 178 percent, 129 percent and 124 percent respectively.

NoozzVIEW; Omani phone sale

With commendable prescience, the Omani Government—not so blessed with as much oil as many of its Gulf neighbours—is now looking hard towards diversification, which it hopes will be achieved by more rapid privatisation than in the past.

The first company to come under the hammer is the Oman Telecommunications Co., formerly known as the General Telecommunications Organisation, which was state-owned and was in charge of the country’s communications since the early 1970s. It underwent an IPO in 2005 when the sale of 30 percent of its shares on the Muscat Securities Market raised a tidy US$48 million.

MEA's mobile user base to grow 10.5 percent annually till 2013

Mobile phone user base in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 10.5 percent between 2008 and 2013 and operator-billed service revenues across the region are expected to rise to more than US$107 billion (AED392.69 billion) in 2013, a research report said.

The report found that growth would be driven by mobile data services, fuelled by the greater availability and wider variety of media-rich content coupled with lower browsing costs. However, it said that regional operator-billed voice revenues were likely to peak in 2011 and will subsequently fall away due to increasingly competitive pricing in that sector.

Omantel signs deal for landing of submarine cable

Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel) and Middle East and North Africa Company (MENA) of Egypt have signed a deal on the landing of a submarine fiber optics cable on the Omani coast to enhance the Gulf country's international telecom traffic.

The cable landing point will be in Al Seeb, a district 30 kilometres west of the Omani capital of Muscat, where the Omantel Submarine Cables Center is located.

Egypt's OT to form Canadian wireless operator

Egypt's Orascom Telecom, among the biggest mobile phone operators in the Middle East, said it was part of a consortium chosen to create a new Canadian wireless operator.

Cairo-based OT, which joined forces with Canada's Globalive Communications Corp, said in a statement the new operator had provisionally won a license for wireless spectrum in the country and was the high bidder across every region with the exception of Quebec, with a population coverage of 26 million.

Indonesia says QTel limited to 49 pct Indosat stake

A plan by Qatar Telecom (QTel) to buy the remaining shares in Indonesia's PT Indosat Tbk will be blocked by a regulation limiting foreign ownership to 49 percent, officials said.

The limit throws into doubt plans by QTel to take over Indonesia's second-largest mobile phone operator. ""The limit is in accordance with the telecommunication sector regulation that limits foreign ownership at 49 percent,"" said Fuad Rahmany, chairman of the capital market regulator, Bapepam.