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Gulf States Invest in Virgin Mobile MVNO Subsidiary
Published on:
The state-owned Gulf Investment Corp (GIC) is investing US$50 million in Virgin Mobile's Middle Eastern mobile network operations, reportedly making it one of the largest single shareholders in the group.
The GIC is jointly owned by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
Virgin Mobile Middle East & Africa (VMMEA) was created in June 2012 from the merger of Virgin Mobile's South Africa based MVNO and Friendi Group's own MVNO businesses in the Middle East.
Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin, said: "Virgin Mobile is the leading MVNO operator in the Middle East and Africa with operations in Oman, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. We intend to create a large regional mobile telecom player reaching more than 10m customers. The investment by GIC is an important show of support by an important institutional investor for our ambitious plans."
Currently only Oman allows MVNOs, although Saudi Arabia is in the process of awarding licenses. Other regional countries are expected to allow virtual networks shortly.
Tags: [virgin mobile]
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