Tunisia: Phone Sales |
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After hosting the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) last month, Tunisia is now focusing on its continuing privatisation efforts - particularly in the burgeoning telecommunications field.
Key to this is the planned privatisation of Tunisie Télécom, which is doing its part to spur a new era of growth and opportunity in the North African telecoms sector, one of the world's fastest-growing markets. However, the process seems to have run into a slight disconnect for at least one potential suitor.
Celtel, the third-place cellular operator in Africa, now says it may pull out of the bidding for a slice of the state-run phone company in Tunisia - as well as its counterpart in Nigeria.
The decision appears to be based on the fact that Celtel was unlikely to make the shortlist in Tunisia, where it faced competing bids from well-entrenched firms such as France Télécom, Telecom Italia and Vivendi Universal, also of France.
Still, Reuters reported on December 1 that Marten Pieters, Celtel's chief executive, did not think that the pullout meant an end to the company's African expansion plans. In fact, he said the company would announce in the next few weeks an Africa acquisition that would expand its business to a 14th country.
Celtel was said by Reuters to be considering Senegal's third licence and a stake in Ghana Telecom to beef up its presence in the west of the mother continent.
Celtel is owned by Kuwait's MTC, and seems to have been hesitant to shoulder the burden of Tunisie Télécom's core fixed-line businesses.
MTC took over Celtel earlier this year with a $3.3bn offer that pushed African telecommunications into the world investment spotlight, brought billions of Middle East oil dollars into Africa, and ironically raised prices for other companies it later found itself trying to buy.
Meanwhile, the Tunisie Télécom sale presses on - if rather slowly. Privatisation in Tunisia began back in the late 1980s, yet the decision to sell off Tunisie Télécom was made officially in July 2004, and for a minority stake. The deadline for submitting expressions of interest in the 35% share now on offer was set at September 20, 2005, but was allowed to go a little fuzzy. These days, industry insiders say they anticipate a sale by early 2006.
Not everyone is as pleased about the potential sale, either. Some of the company's 8000 employees are worried about being made redundant once the state no longer guarantees their livelihoods.
Tunisie Télécom, the largest single Tunisian company in terms of turnover and profit, would seem an attractive business to buy, however. It announced its best-ever results in April 2005, boasting a turnover of $823m, up year-on-year by around 23%.
While the company is the exclusive provider of fixed-line telephony services in the country, it is likely that most of its profit growth last year came from the liberalised GSM market. In June, Tunisie Télécom had a 72% market share in the mobile services, with 3.2m subscribers.
Just how attractive the GSM market is was outlined by Nokia's senior vice president for the Europe, Middle East and Africa networks, Walid Moneimne, at the WSIS. He told reporters that the mobile subscriber growth rate in the Middle East and Africa was one of the highest in the world, and that his company was expanding to meet the demand, such as at its Tunis facility, amongst other projects.
The Tunisian government, for its part, is looking for a strategic partner for Tunisie Télécom, such as a major foreign telecoms company, or consortium of financiers in partnership with a major foreign telecoms operator. It wants a company with technical and operating expertise, and one that is willing to work closely with the government on development issues.
One suitor, Vivendi Universal, already owns 51% of Maroc Telecom, the top cellular and landline phone company in Morocco. Vivendi's chief executive officer, Jean-Bernard Lévy, called the Morocco project an impressive series of successes.
Undoubtedly, Vivendi is hoping for a repeat performance in Tunisia, where the market is characterised by healthy growth and had a cellular penetration rate of almost 40% in 2004, according to government figures.
© Oxford Business Group 2005
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