Telecoms & ITC

Batelco, PCCW and Verizon get Saudi phone OK

Consortiums led by Bahrain Telecommunications Co (Batelco), Hong Kong’s PCCW and U.S. Verizon Communications won final approval to operate new Saudi fixed-line phone networks.

The official news agency SPA said the Saudi cabinet approved a decision under which the three new firms set up to operate the fixed-line services would sell 25 percent of their shares in initial public offerings, 10 percent to a state pension fund and 5 percent to a social insurance body.

News Analysis: Middle East offers huge potential for mobile operators

The chief incentive for the 30-plus mobile phone operators doing business in the Middle East is the market’s low mobile phone penetration. At only 34% it offers considerable growth potential and is making the region a magnet for new technologies and services such as Zain’s pan-regional mobile network.

Iraq offers the greatest potential for growth with a penetration rate of 25%. This is historically due to Saddam Hussein’s dictatorial policy of keeping modern communications technology at a minimum. A viable fixed-line phone alternative for Iraqis does not exist as the traditional telephony network is in a state of decay. Emerging markets such as Iraq which have a poor existing infrastructure offer potentially huge opportunities to a global mobile phone industry that is facing saturation in more mature markets such as Europe and the US.

Egypt’s Orascom Telecom plans to introduce mobile phone service to isolated North Korea

Egypt’s Orascom Telecom said it will invest up to US$400m (€270m) to set up a mobile phone network in North Korea, one of the world’s poorest and most tightly controlled societies. Hatim E. El Gammal, an Orascom investor relations official, said that the network would be the first based on 3G in North Korea.

INTERVIEW - Zain eyes full Iraq mobile coverage by end - 2008

Kuwaiti mobile phone firm Zain said it would expand its coverage to the whole of Iraq by the end of 2008 after buying the Iraqi unit of Egypt’s Orascom Telecom and building up its network. Ali Dahwi, chief executive of Zain Iraq, stated in an interview that the company expected to integrate its Iraqi network fully with Orascom’s former Iraqna subsidiary by year-end.

Egypt to auction 2nd fixed-line license June 19

Egypt’s telecoms regulator said it would auction a second fixed-line licence on June 19, bringing Egypt one step closer to ending state-run Telecom Egypt’s fixed-line monopoly.

In an announcement published in the financial daily al Alam al Youm, the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) said interested parties could obtain a booklet of conditions starting on March 13 after paying a fee of US$10,000.

Saudi Atheeb to bid for Egypt phone licence

Saudi Arabia’s Atheeb group plans to lead a consortium to bid for Egypt’s second fixed-line telecom licence to tap the Arab country’s population growth, its chairman said.

“We are in the final stages to set up a consortium that will bid for the Egyptian licence,” Chairman Prince Abdul-Aziz bin Ahmed al-Saud told Reuters in an interview. “It is a natural step in our growth.”