Telecoms & ITC

Bahrain: Phones getting busier

Bahrain's crowded telecommunications sector is about to get even busier, with mobile phone operators Bahrain Telecommunications Company (Batelco) and Zain set to face increased competition in the coming year. In January, the Kingdom's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), the body charged with overseeing and controlling Bahrain's telecoms sector, announced that the Saudi Telecommunications Company (STC) had been awarded the country's third mobile phone license, having bid US$231 million. On top of its license fee, STC is investing some US$100 million to develop the required infrastructure to carry out its activities, including base stations, repeaters and relay masts. While the new entrant into the market will boost competition, there was not much of it for the license itself, with STC being the only bidder. Three other firms did register for the tender process and the TRA twice extended the deadline for bids. This apparent lack of interest is probably a reflection on the already congested market, with mobile penetration rates running at 131 per cent as of the beginning of this year. It is unlikely that STC will be able to increase this penetration level; rather it is expected to try to eat into the market shares of Batelco and Zain, with company officials saying they were looking to acquire a 20 per cent slice of the market within 10 years. Currently, the two existing service providers have a roughly equal share of Bahrain's client base, both with around 700,000 subscribers. There is another competition being played out in the sector, that between the TRA and Batelco, with the former claiming the service provider is acting to restrict rivals' access to the market, allegations the latter has rejected.

Egypt committee rejects OT's appeal on FT's-Mobinil bid

An Egyptian appeals committee has rejected a request by Orascom Telecom that the regulator block France Telecom's latest bid to buy all of Mobinil shares, the regulator said. France Telecom subsidiary Orange Participations earlier this month offered 245 Egyptian pounds (US$44.63) for each share in Mobinil, Egypt's biggest mobile firm by subscribers. The offer began on Dec 15 and will end on Jan. 14. Orascom and France Telecom are Mobinil's main shareholders, but neither has a majority stake. The two have been locked in an ownership dispute since 2007. "The committee has approved the earlier decision," allowing France Telecom to go ahead with its offer, Khaled Serry Seyam, deputy chairman of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority, said.

Egypt telecom regulator delays bid deadline

Egypt's telecom regulator has delayed by two months the deadline for bids for two restricted licenses to supply cable, voice and Internet services, its head said. The head of the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA), Amr Badawi, also said it was not currently considering reviving a plan to offer a second fixed-line license that would break the monopoly of Telecom Egypt. Bids for the cable, telecom and Internet licenses to serve residential compounds will now be due by March 15, Badawi said. "Most of the bidders requested it," he said, adding that 18 firms had bought the bid documents. "They requested more time to form consortiums and prepare bids." Companies that have confirmed their interest include existing operators Mobinil and Vodafone, as well as regional operator Orascom Telecom.

Mideast firms eye global reach

Dubai Telecom operators in the Middle East are now looking at international operations to boost revenues as the regional markets become saturated and the services are becoming more commoditized, according to industry experts. "The Middle East continues to be the major source of revenues for the regional operators. However, as the regional operators and specifically the GCC incumbents continue with their expansion plans, an increasing amount of revenues will be proportionally generated from other markets," Hilal Halaoui, principal at Booz & Company, said. He said the Middle East telecom sector will continue to grow in terms of subscribers and revenues. But the growth is expected to slow down as competition intensifies, prices drop and markets saturate. The operators are increasingly looking to develop data and value-added services. Mobile broadband services will become increasingly important. Even though the mobile subscriber base in the Gulf is expected to surge 149 per cent to 62.4 million next year compared to 55.9 million this year, the fixed line subscriber base is expected to rise by a mere 17.8 per cent to 7.5 million compared to 7.2 million this year.