11 December 2008
Big economies in Asia have expressed their interest in making large-scale investments in the Iranian telecommunications sector, an official said.
Davoud Zare'ian, a spokesman for the state-owned telecoms operator, said that investors from China, Russia and Indonesia have already voiced their interest in acquiring a stake in the Telecommunications Company of Iran (TCI).
This is while the telecoms regulator is expected to announce the winner of the technical bid for the third domestic mobile phone carrier at the end of the month, Fars News Agency reported.
Competitive Bid
After the announcement of the result, the winners will have to submit their financial bids until January 11, 2009. The contract will go to the most competitive bidder the following day.
The winner company will have to compete with the current telecoms operators, namely, TCI and Irancell which is 49 percent owned by the MTN Group. The organizers have not disclosed the number of companies and firms which have submitted their bids.
Qatar's Qtel expressed interest in the opportunity saying that it is in line with their plans to expand throughout the region. PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia is also interested in acquiring a stake of up to 20 percent of Iran's national phone operator, the TCI.
"Telkom is ready to become its strategic partner," Telkom Chief Commissioner Tanri Abeng said.
Telkom plans to make investment through its PT Telkom International Indonesia (TII) subsidiary, the international operations unit. Tanri said that the deal will be funded internally.
By the end of September, TCI had 24 million fixed line subscribers and 28 million mobile users. The company also operates a 79,000km optical fiber network in the country. According to charts on the Tehran Stock Exchange, shares of TCI are trading close to 20 percent above its initial listing price.
The sale of TCI is part of the Iranian government's privatization drive for state-owned entities across major industries. Foreign companies from South Africa, Saudi Arabia, France and Russia have reportedly expressed their interest in TCI.
Russian cellco MegaFon had also declared its intention to bid for Iran's fourth national mobile licence when it becomes available. The government is expected to offer a new mobile licence, with the new licensee competing with established operators TCI, MTN Irancell and Taliya.
MegaFon has said that it is prepared to invest around $4.6 billion in the construction of a GSM network.
Ministry of ICT has suggested that, once issued, the new mobile licence will include access to the spectrum necessary to provide 3G services.
The Ministry has also said that foreign operators will only be able to have a 49 percent stake in the new mobile operation and that Iranian companies will be able to participate in the tender in the form of a consortium.
Growth Report
In the first six months of 2008, the number of cellular subscribers grew by an estimated 22.6 percent to reach over 35 million; which helped to increase mobile penetration to 49.4 percent.
Much of the growth can be attributed to the continued expansion of MTN Irancell. MTN Irancell ended 2007 with an even larger mobile customer base than predicted (6.006 million).
Furthermore, during the period, MTN Irancell's customer base expanded by over 50 percent to reach 9.025 million in April. This allowed MTN Irancell to raise its market share to almost 28 percent, up from 21 percent in December 2007 and 6.4 percent in March 2007.
Due to the stronger than expected subscriber growth in the period, the previous set of mobile forecast figures have been revised. It is predicted that the sector will grow by 60 percent by March 2009, enabling penetration to rise to over 64 percent by the end of the year.
In April 2008, Iran Telecom Chairman Saber Feizi said that various companies which constitute Iran Telecom were interconnected in such a way as to make it impossible to separate them when the company is eventually offered for sale on the Stock Exchange.
Feizi therefore stressed that Iran Telecom would be sold along with all its subsidiaries, including mobile business unit of Mobile Communications Company of Iran (MCI).
In March 2007, TCI and its provincial affiliated companies received the government's permission to be privatized. TCI's Infrastructure Telecom Company will be detached from it and it would continue its activities as a part of the ICT Ministry. Close to 33 companies in the telecoms sector will go privatized.
Big economies in Asia have expressed their interest in making large-scale investments in the Iranian telecommunications sector, an official said.
Davoud Zare'ian, a spokesman for the state-owned telecoms operator, said that investors from China, Russia and Indonesia have already voiced their interest in acquiring a stake in the Telecommunications Company of Iran (TCI).
This is while the telecoms regulator is expected to announce the winner of the technical bid for the third domestic mobile phone carrier at the end of the month, Fars News Agency reported.
Competitive Bid
After the announcement of the result, the winners will have to submit their financial bids until January 11, 2009. The contract will go to the most competitive bidder the following day.
The winner company will have to compete with the current telecoms operators, namely, TCI and Irancell which is 49 percent owned by the MTN Group. The organizers have not disclosed the number of companies and firms which have submitted their bids.
Qatar's Qtel expressed interest in the opportunity saying that it is in line with their plans to expand throughout the region. PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia is also interested in acquiring a stake of up to 20 percent of Iran's national phone operator, the TCI.
"Telkom is ready to become its strategic partner," Telkom Chief Commissioner Tanri Abeng said.
Telkom plans to make investment through its PT Telkom International Indonesia (TII) subsidiary, the international operations unit. Tanri said that the deal will be funded internally.
By the end of September, TCI had 24 million fixed line subscribers and 28 million mobile users. The company also operates a 79,000km optical fiber network in the country. According to charts on the Tehran Stock Exchange, shares of TCI are trading close to 20 percent above its initial listing price.
The sale of TCI is part of the Iranian government's privatization drive for state-owned entities across major industries. Foreign companies from South Africa, Saudi Arabia, France and Russia have reportedly expressed their interest in TCI.
Russian cellco MegaFon had also declared its intention to bid for Iran's fourth national mobile licence when it becomes available. The government is expected to offer a new mobile licence, with the new licensee competing with established operators TCI, MTN Irancell and Taliya.
MegaFon has said that it is prepared to invest around $4.6 billion in the construction of a GSM network.
Ministry of ICT has suggested that, once issued, the new mobile licence will include access to the spectrum necessary to provide 3G services.
The Ministry has also said that foreign operators will only be able to have a 49 percent stake in the new mobile operation and that Iranian companies will be able to participate in the tender in the form of a consortium.
Growth Report
In the first six months of 2008, the number of cellular subscribers grew by an estimated 22.6 percent to reach over 35 million; which helped to increase mobile penetration to 49.4 percent.
Much of the growth can be attributed to the continued expansion of MTN Irancell. MTN Irancell ended 2007 with an even larger mobile customer base than predicted (6.006 million).
Furthermore, during the period, MTN Irancell's customer base expanded by over 50 percent to reach 9.025 million in April. This allowed MTN Irancell to raise its market share to almost 28 percent, up from 21 percent in December 2007 and 6.4 percent in March 2007.
Due to the stronger than expected subscriber growth in the period, the previous set of mobile forecast figures have been revised. It is predicted that the sector will grow by 60 percent by March 2009, enabling penetration to rise to over 64 percent by the end of the year.
In April 2008, Iran Telecom Chairman Saber Feizi said that various companies which constitute Iran Telecom were interconnected in such a way as to make it impossible to separate them when the company is eventually offered for sale on the Stock Exchange.
Feizi therefore stressed that Iran Telecom would be sold along with all its subsidiaries, including mobile business unit of Mobile Communications Company of Iran (MCI).
In March 2007, TCI and its provincial affiliated companies received the government's permission to be privatized. TCI's Infrastructure Telecom Company will be detached from it and it would continue its activities as a part of the ICT Ministry. Close to 33 companies in the telecoms sector will go privatized.
© Iran Daily 2008
