Nov 17 2010 |
more articles from
|
Six telecom operators bid for Syria licence
Wednesday, Nov 17, 2010
Gulf News
Tough competition likely as low penetration shared by Syriatel and MTN gives market scope for rapid expansion
Dubai Six companies have submitted bids for the third mobile telecommunications licence in Syria’s pre-qualifying stage.
According to the tender documents, a bidder may comprise more than one telecom operator, but Syria’s state telecoms operator will hold a 20 per cent stake in the company.
The tender had been expected to draw international interest for one of the last markets in the Middle East with a major potential for expansion. According to Mohammad Al Jalali, Syria’s Associate Minister of Communications and Technology, the six companies are etisalat, Saudi Telecom, Qatar Telecom, Turkcell, France Telecom and Iran’s ?Tamco.
Syria is estimated to have about 10.4 million cell phone subscribers, which marks a 47 per cent population penetration.
The two current cell phone operators are South Arica’s MTN and Syriatel , which is mostly owned by Syrian businessman Rami Makhlouf.
“The second phase of the competition will be announced next month to include the study and evaluation of the offers. The company that submits the best offer will win the tender,” he said.
Deep pockets
Telecom executives said that competition will be tough, with Saudi Telecom having deep pockets and Turkcell having gained good market knowledge during an unsuccessful attempt to acquire Syriatel two years ago.
According to the Syrian Arab News Agency, the government approved on August 25 the auctioning of a third licence and decided to change the contracts of the two current operators to build-operate-transfer licence protocols.
Syriatel holds 55 per cent of the market with 4.2 million subscriptions, while MTN Syria has the rest, according to their respective websites.
Jawad Abassi, founder and general manager of Arab Advisors Group, said: “There is heightened interest for the third operator. Syria remains a market operating under its true potential because the two operators are in a comfortable duopoly. With three operators, we will see penetration rates exceeding 100 per cent in the next four years and effectively doubling the market.”
third player
There is heightened interest for the third operator. Syria remains a market operating under its true potential because the two operators are in a comfortable duopoly.”
Jawad Abassi
Founder and general manager, Arab Advisors Group
By Naushad K. Cherrayil?Staff Reporter
© Gulf News 2010. All rights reserved.
Zawya Comment Policy
-
Zawya encourages you to add a comment to this discussion. You agree that when you add content to this discussion your comments will not:
1.1 Contain any material which is libelous or defamatory of any person, is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory or causes damage to the reputation of any person or organisation.
1.2 Promote sexually explicit material, violence, discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age or any illegal activity.
1.3 Be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence.
1.4 Be threatening, abuse or invade another's privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.
1.5 Be used to impersonate any person, to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person, or be likely to deceive any person.
1.6 Give the impression that they represent Zawya.
1.7 Advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse. - The content posted on www.zawya.com is created by members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of Zawya. Zawya reserves the right to review all comments prior to posting and edit or delete any contribution, but Zawya is not responsible for and can not be held liable for any content posted by members of the public on www.zawya.com.
- Zawya is not responsible for the availability or content of any third party sites that are accessible through www.zawya.com. Any links to third party websites from www.zawya.com do not amount to any endorsement of that site by Zawya and any use of that site by you is at your own risk.
- By submitting your comment, you hereby give Zawya the right, but not the obligation, to post, air, edit, exhibit, telecast, webcast, re-use, publish, reproduce, use, license, print, distribute or otherwise use your comments worldwide, in perpetuity.
Copyright © 2012 Zawya Ltd. All rights reserved. |
provided by www.zawya.com |
Post Your Comment