MyAdhan Blog

Link: Etisalat prepares to enter Iraqi market

Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates is close to striking a deal to form a joint venture with a mobile operator in the Kurdish region of Iraq, the Abu Dhabi-based company’s chief executive says. Mohammad al-Qemzi told the Financial Times that the former UAE telecoms monopoly was in talks with an existing operator to form a new mobile joint-venture based in the area. The region has been Iraq’s most stable business environment since the US-led invasion in 2003, in spite of the current Turkish incursion aimed at rooting out Kurdish rebels. “We are now looking at a joint venture with an existing licence holder,” he said, without giving further details. “We are now just waiting for final agreement to get the deal done.” Mr al-Qemzi said the UAE company was also holding talks with the Kurdish regional government over the deal. Two of Iraq’s three mobile operating licences are held by leading Gulf-based consortiums: Atheer, headed by Kuwait’s Zain (formerly MTC), and AsiaCell, a joint venture between a Kurdish company and Kuwait’s Wataniya, acquired last year by Qatar’s Q-tel. The third licence was bought by a second Kurdish company, Korek, AsiaCell’s rival in the Kurdistan region. Korek had negotiated to acquire the assets of the licence’s former holder, Egypt’s Orascom, but the deal fell apart and Orascom’s network was sold to Zain in December. The aftermath left Korek with a licence purchased for $1.25bn, but without nationwide infrastructure. Hameed Akrawi, deputy chief executive of Korek, said he had been in discussions with several companies, including Etisalat. “We are still continuing discussions with them but we have no final agreement,” Mr Akrawi told the FT, declining further comment. Etisalat is in the midst of expansion into emerging markets across Africa and Asia, where it now has operations in 16 countries, as it seeks new customers beyond the UAE’s fast-growing but small market. The former monopoly, which faces competition from another government-controlled operator, Du, more than doubled its investment into its network in 2007 as net profit jumped to Dh7.3bn ($2bn) last year. The company has launched mobile operations in Nigeria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, but it lost out in an auction in neighbouring Qatar last year. Etisalat also plans to bid for a Lebanese mobile licence, which was scheduled for auction this month, although officials in Beirut had said the process could be delayed because of the country’s political gridlock.