Jul 24 2011 |
more articles from
|
INTERVIEW: Zain Sudan MD Eyes Subs Growth On Southern Independence
Sunday, Jul 24, 2011
(This item was originally published on Thursday)
By Shereen El Gazzar
Of ZAWYA DOW JONES
CAIRO (Zawya Dow Jones)-- Zain Sudan , a unit of Kuwait-based telecoms firm Zain Group (ZAIN.KW), expects revenues grew 14% in the second quarter as it added more subscribers and plans to spend more than $100 million on infrastructure in the south of the country following the region's recent declaration of independence, a top executive said.
South Sudan declared independence earlier this month after nearly 50 years of war with Sudan and millions of deaths. The United Nations voted to admit South Sudan as its 193rd member and the country was subsequently issued a new country code by the International Telecommunications Union, or ITU.
"Until this moment it's business is as usual. Nobody has asked us to stop," said Erwa. "Operators will have a six months grace period to implement the code [new country code] from the United Nations recognition of South Sudan," he added.
Sudan has become an increasingly important, and profitable, country for Zain and was the third biggest revenue contributor to the overall group in the first quarter behind Iraq and Kuwait.
Zain Sudan 's Erwa expects the number of mobile subscribers in South Sudan to hit 700,000 by the end of the year, from about 500,000 at present. Mobile penetration in Sudan currently stands at about 45%, a far cry from levels near, and above, 100% in other north African countries.
As it stands, the south of Sudan contributes only 6% of revenue coming from the country, while consuming 20% of the unit's spending, said Erwa.
"We are going to increase revenue from south of Sudan by increasing our customer base and the usage of our network," he added.
By Shereen El Gazzar, Dow Jones Newswires, +9714 446 1684 Shereen.elgazzar@dowjones.com
Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
24-07-11 0353GMT
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