CAIRO -(Dow Jones)- Saudi Telecommunications is ready to give Telecom Egypt - or any other Egyptian company - up to 20% of its shares in Egypt's third mobile operator, should Saudi Telecom win the bidding for the third license, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported Saturday.
The pan-Arab daily quoted Saoud bin Maged al-Dawish, president of Saudi Telecom, as saying he would enter into an alliance with Telecom Egypt, the Egyptian Postal Co. or any other Egyptian company should Telekom Malyasia not be interested in a 15% to 20% stake in the new company.
Saudi Telecom joined forces in May with Telekom Malaysia to bid for Egypt's third mobile license. The agreement gives Telekom Malaysia a choice between controlling a 15%-20% stake in the new company, or provision of technical support with no ownership of shares.
State-controlled Telecom Egypt announced early in May that it had formed an alliance with Telecom Italia to bid for the third mobile license, while the Egyptian Postal Co. is in an alliance with the United Arab Emirates' Telecommunications Corp. for the bidding.
Al-Dawish said in a telephone interview with Al-Sharq Al-Awsat that his offer is intended to benefit Egyptian investors so long as he holds the majority of shares in the new company.
The announcement by Saudi Telecom comes as a strategic move to win support for its offer in the bid, the newspaper said.
According to terms of the bid, offers from international companies which have local partners and firms willing to trade a portion of the shares on the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchange after two years of operation will be favored.
Egypt's telecom regulator in April said it expected a minimum of 2.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($433.8 million) to be offered in the tender.
Egypt's sale of a third mobile license will allow a new entrant into a market dominated by MobiNil - owned by Egypt's Orascom Telecom Holding and France Telecom - and U.K. firm Vodafone Group.
-By Maha El Dahan, Dow Jones Newswires, +20122267850, mahaeldahan@yahoo.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires "
Posted to the site on 3rd June 2006
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/17661.php