ABU DHABI, 16 Oct, 04 (WAM) - The UAE's Etisalat, which has won SaudiArabia's second mobile phone service licence jointly with a number ofSaudi investors, has announced that it expects to get up to seven millionsubscribers in the first five years of its operations in the Kingdom,according to a report from Jeddah published in +Khaleej Times.+ The initial public offering (IPO) of shares in the Etisalat Consortiumwill start today as announced by the head of the Capital Market Authority.
SAMBA Financial Group has been named the share flotation manager.The IPO will last for 10 days and the shares will be available for purchasethrough all banks in the Kingdom. Twenty million shares will be on offer,although there will be a limit of 10,000 shares per person, in order toallow room for small investors. The Vice President of Etisalat and ExecutiveManager for Marketing, Mohammed Al-Fahiem, has said the company expectsto start its services in the Kingdom from the beginning of next year.
The company would provide the most advanced services to its subscribers,which would include third generation mobile phone technologies enablingthe subscriber to receive TV telecasts, in addition to transmission ofpictures and other proactive services. Etisalat has already started thework of laying the infrastructure to cover 33 cities and towns in SaudiArabia and about 70 per cent of the Kingdom's regions. Fahiem said Etisalatis the first Middle East company to offer visual mobile phone services.
Competing with Saudi Telecom, the Kingdom's telecom monopoly until Etisalatentered the market, would not be difficult as Etisalat has the experienceof the Gulf market which is in many ways similar to Saudi Arabia as faras habits and traditions of the population are concerned, he said. "Weknow the Saudi market," he added.About the visual mobile phone service, he said the third generation mobileservices include many advantages other than visual reception, which isbanned in the Kingdom. The Saudi Cabinet in August awarded Etisalat Consortiumthe second mobile phone licence after Etisalat made the highest financialbid, offering SR12.21 billion.
