UAE based Etisalat has confirmed media reports which emerged late last year - that it has won the third mobile network license in the Islamic Republic of Iran in consortium with Taameen Telecom, a company owned by the Iranian Social Security Organization (SSO) that serves more than 30 million Iranians through pension funds. Etisalat will have a 49% stake in the joint venture.
The new license includes GSM and 3G with a two year exclusivity for offering 3G services.
Etisalat says that it won over other bidders in terms of technical qualifications and its offer of revenue sharing percentage with the government throughout the license duration. The license fee is €300 million (US$402 million).
"The telecom market in the Islamic Republic of Iran has a very promising future, mainly due to its rapidly growing population estimated at 73 million people , young generation constitutes a large percentage of the population, and the low penetration rate of mobile telephony and other telecommunications services with around 40 million 2G subscribers divided between two national operators and 3 other regional operators. We are confident of the growth potential of this important market especially with our two year exclusivity to offer 3G services" said Jamal Al Jarwan, CEO International Investments, Etisalat
There was controversy over the previous allocation of the country's second GSM license. Turkcell, though its 51% owned subsidiary - Irancell, originally signed an operator license with the Iranian government in 2004, but it fell foul of a clamp down on foreign investments by the conservative Parliament. The Parliament accused the company of having links with Israel - and after a year of battles, the license was reissued - this time to South Africa's MTN Group. MTN took a minority 49% stake, while 51% was allocated to the Iran Electronic Development Company (IEDC).
The Iranian government also recently announced plans to sell off a second stake in the state owned telecoms operator, the Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI). The government recently floated a five percent stake on the local stock market and had been expected to seek an external investor. Ali Rahmani, managing director of the Tehran Stock Exchange has now confirmed that a 49% stake will be sold to a single investor, with a foreign party being invited to take up to 35% of the company.
Posted to the site on 13th January 2009
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/35474.php