Tuesday, Jan 24, 2012
DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--Bahrain Telecommunications Co., or Batelco, the country's biggest telecom operator, said Tuesday that it is investing 50 million Jordanian dinars ($70.5 million) to obtain a 3G license for its Jordanian unit Umniah, a 96% owned subsidiary.
Batelco, in an e-mailed statement, said that it has paid the Jordanian Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, or TRC, JOD50 million for the 3G license and it will invest further in infrastructure and network expenses over the coming 6 months.
Umniah acquired 2.1 gigahertz of spectrum from the TRC, preparing it to move forward with the rollout of the advanced 3.75G services, the telco said in the statement. Umniah currently serves more than 2.3 million customers in Jordan, giving it a 31% market share, according to the statement.
"Overseas growth remains a core part of Batelco Group's strategy and this investment serves to underscore our focus on driving growth and building on our market leading positions in key markets for the Group such as Jordan where we see significant opportunities and room for further penetration," said Shaikh Mohamed bin Isa Al Khalifa, Batelco's group chief executive officer.
"We have already derived significant value from our investment in Umniah and we expect that with the development of Umniah's service offering through 3G capabilities, we will achieve even further gains in market share and enhanced results as we go forth."
The services is scheduled to be launched nationwide between the second and third quarter of year 2012, Batelco said in the statement.
Shares of the Bahraini telco, which Monday posted a 13% year-on-year rise in its fourth quarter net profit to BHD23.5 million, closed flat at BHD0.394 on the Bahrain stock exchange.
-By Shereen El Gazzar, Dow Jones Newswires; +971 444 61684; Shereen.elgazzar@dowjones.com
Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Co.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
24-01-12 1004GMT
