Investment, First Step For Group's Interest In Tunisia

Dubai: 30 March, 2006 - The consortium of TECOM Investments and Dubai Investment Group (TECOM-DIG) - both members of Dubai Holding -, which emerged the highest bidder for 35 % of Tunisie Telecom, said today that the investment will be a strategic move that will tap the growth of the Tunisian market.

The consortium yesterday emerged the highest bidder with an offer of US$ 2.25 billion. The bid outstripped all earlier ones including Vivendi's latest offer of US$ 2.04 Billion.

TECOM-DIG was pre-qualified together with 12 other international telecom operators in Q3 2005. Six operators presented formal offers in February 2006, including France Telecom, Vivendi Universal, Etisalat, Saudi Oger/Telecom Italia and MTN from South Africa. Only TECOM-DIG and Vivendi Universal were selected for the final bidding round. The bidding was a closed process with the offers opened at a public ceremony.

"We are proud and pleased to make this major investment in a fellow Arab country," said Ahmad Bin Byat, CEO of TECOM Investments. "We understand the region and the culture and this will help us maximise value for Tunisie Telecom and facilitate the development of Tunisia."

"This will be a strategic investment for us in the region and will aid the development of the Arab region's economy. The investment would be the first step for TECOM's interest in Tunisia and the development of its ICT sector. We are delighted to include this fast growing Tunisian asset in our portfolio and look forward to seeing fast growth, notably in the mobile, enterprise and data sectors," Bin Byat added.

Soud Ba'alawy, CEO Dubai Investment Group said, "Tunisie Telecom has significant growth potential and is an extremely valuable investment.  For DIG, this forms part of a long-term commitment to the Tunisian market. We find the Tunisian economy both attractive and sustainable. DIG believes in investing in the growing telecom sector in the region as part of its mission to diversify its investment portfolio globally."

Tunisie Telecom is well positioned to tap the expected rapid increase in uptake of telecom services among Tunisia's 10.2 million population. At the end of 2005, the company already had a substantial customer base of 3.4 million mobile subscribers and 1.2 million fixed line subscribers. Tunisie Telecom is the sole provider of fixed line services. In the mobile market, Tunisie Telecom competes against Tunisiana and has a majority market share of 60% in the mobile sector. Additionally, Tunisie Telecom is a majority shareholder of Mattel, a mobile operator in Mauritania.

Tunisie Telecom is an integrated operator providing Fixed, Mobile and Data Services in Tunisia. The TECOM-DIG consortium established their International Telecom arm earlier in 2005. TECOM is a telecom operator in the UAE and has recently gone public with its telecom operations through its investment in EITC (Du).

Talks between the UAE and Tunisia began in 2005 when His Excellency Mohammed Al Gergawi, Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs in the UAE and Executive Chairman of Dubai Holding visited the Tunisian President, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. At the time, Gergawi praised Tunisia for its initiatives and complimented Tunisia's thriving and diverse economy.

The team for the final round of bidding consisted of Ahmad Bin Byat, CEO of TECOM Investments; Soud Ba'alawy, CEO Dubai Investment Group; Mustafa Geninah, Managing Director MENA, Dubai Investment Group; Deepak Padmanabhan, Chief Strategy & Business Development Officer, TECOM and Mohsin Majid, Project Manager for the Tunisie Telecom acquisition.

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Note to Editors
About Dubai Investment Group (DIG)
DIG is the global financial investor of Dubai Holding.  Headquartered in the Emirate of Dubai and with local offices stretching from New York through London to Kuala Lumpur, DIG focuses on long and short term investments with the potential to deliver exceptional and sustainable performance. DIG is structured as a conglomerate of investment companies operating around core expertise in the asset classes of Global Securities, Real Estate and Fund Management.  Dubai Investment Group has created and manages a diversified and rapidly expanding portfolio of direct and indirect investments. It focuses on key sectors including Financials, Industrials, Telecommunications and Hotels.

About TECOM Investments
A subsidiary of Dubai Holding, TECOM Investments started with the aim of developing the knowledge-based economy in Dubai. This aim addresses a variety of industry sectors including telecoms, media and technology park development. To achieve the ambition of developing the knowledge economy, TECOM successfully initiated a cluster approach in order to tackle each defined component of the knowledge-centric service offering. The clustered approach proved successful not just in the information and communication technology but also in media, education, and biotechnology sectors. TECOM first launched its telecom operations in 2000 with what was the regions first commercial deployment of converged services over a single IP network, offering a range of corporate and residential services, including IP triple play (TV, telephony and broadband internet). TECOM's other telecom investments include Axiom, the largest mobile distributor in the Middle East, and Interoute, a next generation IP network connecting together most countries in Europe.

© Press Release 2006