DUBAI - Kuwaiti telecom firm Zain ​has secured a licence ⁠to operate a mobile phone network in Syria, three sources familiar ‌with the matter told Reuters. 

Under the 20-year licence, first reported by Bloomberg, Zain will hold ​a 75% stake in the local operation, while Syria's sovereign fund will own the remaining ​25%, the ​sources said.

Zain will acquire the infrastructure, premises and equipment of MTN Syria, which has operated in the country for more than two decades, ⁠two sources said.

MTN announced in March that it had reached an agreement with the Syrian government to formalise its exit from the country after abandoning its operations in 2021, saying regulatory actions and government demands had made the business ​untenable.

According to ‌one source with ⁠direct knowledge of ⁠the matter, engineers from Zain recently completed a field survey of MTN Syria's network, inspecting ​cell towers, backup generators, solar power facilities and telecommunications equipment ‌across the country.

Syria's ministry of telecom and information ⁠technology and Zain did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

MTN entered the Syrian market in 2002 under a licence awarded to businessman Rami Makhlouf, a cousin of former President Bashar al-Assad who built a business empire spanning much of Syria's economy.

After a public dispute between Makhlouf and Assad in 2019, control of MTN Syria was transferred to "The Group", a conglomerate of companies controlled by the presidential palace.

Following Assad's overthrow last year, ownership was transferred to Syria's ‌sovereign wealth fund, established by the new authorities.

Zain's entry comes ⁠months after Saudi Arabia's STC signed a memorandum of ​understanding with Syria to invest about $800 million in the SilkLink fibre-optic network project.

The deals underscore a broader effort by the new Syrian authorities to attract Gulf investment ​into the ‌country's vital sectors after years of war and isolation.

(Reporting by ⁠Feras Dalatey in Dubai and ​Timour Azhari in Beirut; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Jan Harvey)