MyAdhan Blog

Link: Kuwait: Zain planning $4bn london share offer

Bahrain-based telecom giant Zain expects net profit to grow at least five per cent this year and projected a London flotation next year worth about $4 billion, its chief executive said yesterday. The third-largest Arab telecoms company by market value is also expecting to make a share offer in Bahrain this June, Saad Al Barrak said. “We expect a little more than 5pc compared to last year, he said, when asked for this year’s forecast. “Our expectations for next year: a big increase even in net profit. We are talking about more than 30pc,” he added. Zain is investing in Saudi Arabia where, along with other investors, it won the kingdom’s third mobile phone licence. It also bought Iraqi operator Iraqna for $1.2bn. Al Barrak said Zain was considering a share offer on the London Stock Exchange in the first quarter of next year, worth about $4bn. “We are going ahead with it. We expect by the start of next year we will be ready for listing,” he said, adding details were still being studied and new shares could also be sold on another international stock exchange. Zain said last year it was considering a share sale of its international unit on the LSE and would also consider transatlantic operator NYSE Euronext. Al Barrak also said Zain wanted to sell shares in its Bahrain operations in June. “We are expecting in June … we have to sell 20pc of the company’s (shares),” he said. Analysts have said Zain, which is listed in Kuwait, might become the biggest stock on the Manama exchange. Last year, Zain moved its international unit to Bahrain. Zain is expanding abroad as it prepares to face more competition in Kuwait, where Saudi Telecom is to set up the third mobile phone firm later this year.

Link: Morocco: Competition spurs market growth

Maroc Telecom and Meditel have expanded quickly, but could they do even better in a liberalised market? The winner of the competition for Morocco’s second mobile phone licence set a record for the region in 1999. When Meditel, a joint venture of Spain’s Telefonica and Portugal Telecom, paid $1.1bn for the privilege of competing with the state-owned incumbent, Maroc Telecom, it was one of the highest bids for a mobile phone licence anywhere in the world. It demonstrated the bidders’ confidence that a licence to sell mobile phones in Morocco was guaranteed to make a lot of money. Maroc Telecom and Meditel have grown swiftly since then. Meditel’s customer numbers have tripled from 2 million at the beginning of 2004 to 6.2 million at the end of 2007. Maroc Telecom has kept its comfortable lead, growing from 5.4 million customers to 13.3 million over the same period. Its customer base is one of the largest in the region. Only Telecommunications Company of Iran, Saudi Telecom, Orascom Telecom-owned Mobinil and Djezzy have more customers. Maroc Telecom’s 13.3 million customers is the same number as Vodafone Egypt, the joint venture of UK mobile phone company Vodafone and Telecom Egypt, even though Maroc Telecom is operating in a country with less than half Egypt’s population. Maroc Telecom is one of only a few incumbent operators in the region to have prevented a second entrant from making serious inroads into its market share. The company’s decision to privatise by selling a controlling stake to Vivendi, the French media conglomerate, in 2005 explains Maroc Telecom’s resilience. The incumbent has lost just 5 percentage points of market share over the past four years, falling from 73 per cent at the start of 2004 to 68 per cent at the end of 2007. Its market share is higher than Saudi Telecom’s 61 per cent share of the Saudi market after just two and a half years of competition from Etihad Etisalat, the local subsidiary of the UAE telecoms giant. Maroc Telecom has done better than the state-owned operator in neighbouring Algeria. Algerie Telecom’s mobile phone business, Mobilis, has been overshadowed by the Orascom Telecom-owned Djezzy since its inception. Mobilis could even fall back into third place following the resurgence of Nedjma under new management appointed by its parent, Qatari operator Qtel.

Link: Dubai: Making media interactive

“It is the right time to talk about technology in the Arab world, be it online or mobile. Things are changing fast in the world and this is a great chance for the Arab media to see what the world can offer them,” said Khadeeja Al Marzooqi, the General Manager of Shoof TV, the first full -time user generated TV station in the region. Speaking to Khaleej Times on the sidelines of the Arab Media Forum, that concluded yesterday, she emphasised the need to integrate technology with media. “Television, radio, newspaper and all forms of media should be as interactive as possible. Globally, the online medium is taking control. However each media form has its challenges and we should try to overcome them,” she said. She noted that in the GCC, journalism and technology were comparatively new vis-a-vis countries like Europe. Touching on the media constraints in the Arab world, Mazrooqi said, “It is not what we wish it to be. However things are changing and journalists are catching up. Slowly, even people (society) are accepting the changes. Even if the government is open minded about what can be said in the media, people are still not ok with it. However, it is slowly changing.” She said that even journalists sometimes shy away from portraying the ugly side of life. Shoof TV, set to be launched by the end of 2008, is a 100 per cent user generated TV station, which will have no in-house production, rather will rely on all clips sent from people uploaded on their TV’s website. She observed, “We do not want to enforce what people want to see, instead want them to choose what they want to watch on their television sets every night. People should, experience, share and interact not just with our TV station but with each other. People in the Arab world are used to sit and receive information, but are not used to interacting. We need to teach them how to use technology to interact.” Mazrooqi observed that the number of local women in media was also increasing steadily. She recalled that when she started working in media in the year 2000 there were barely about 2-3 local women “In the last 6 to 7 years, lots of local women are a part of the media and it is progressing very well. There are a huge number of women graduating from media in universities in the UAE.” Since the UAE was a male dominated society, she conceded that it does affect the workplace as men find it hard to accept women managers. However, that was changing due to the leadership of the country, she observed.

Link: Alcatel and Libya telecom and tehnology sign a $56m deal

Libya Telecom and Technology, the nation’s main internet service provider and Alcatel-Lucent, a French manufacturing company, Wednesday signed an agreement to provide for the implementation of an installation project of the “WiMAX Mobile” technology, at a total cost of 70 million Libyan Dinars (US$ 56 million). The agreement was signed in the presence of the secretary of the general people’s committee of the Libyan general corporation of Posts and Telecommunication, Dr Mohamed Mouammar Kadhafi. It was signed by Ahmed Al-Khitouni, general manager of Libya Telecom and Technology and Philippe Chomel De Jarniev, vice-president of Alcatel for North Africa and the Near East; Dr Mohamed Rached, secretary to the Libyan general committee for Health and Environment, Eng. Said Rached, secretary to the steering committee of the executing agency in charge of railway projects in Libya, as well as France’s Ambassador in Tripoli, François Gouyette, witnessed the signing. The agreement aims at the implementation of the “Libya WiMAX Mobile” project, which consists in a large-scale marketing exercise of “WiMAX Mobile” services, targeting 300,000 potential subscribers. With the “WiMAX Mobile” technology, which allows for the transportation of vario us sorts of audio and visual information through the wireless web, coupled with high quality and very high resolution, Libya is planning to join the ranks of cou n tries providing ultra-modern telecommunication services. The “Libya WiMAX Mobile” project is expected to initially cover an approximate area of 18 million square kilometers, including Tripoli, Benghazi, Sebha, Syrte, M useratha, Khoms, Jdabia, Beidha, Garyane, Beni Welid, Zouara, Tarhouna, Briga, Houn, Zlitin, Zaouia, Gadhames and Ras Lanouf (in various regions of the country). Speaking at the occasion, Adessalama Mabrouk, chief financial officer of Libya Telecom and Technology, said the implementation of the “WiMAX Mobile” technology, was a dream come true for his country, while it remained a faint hope for several other countries in the world. Mabrouk noted that the technology, “which is not profit oriented,” will allow Libyan citizens to use an advanced technology and facilitate their access to various areas for computer-aided management in relation to various services.

Link: Bangladesh: Grameenphone zooms in on rural areas

Grameenphone, the country’s leading mobile phone operator, eyes increased number of customers in rural areas, as the company believes its future growth lies in rural areas. “Definitely, there is a big market in the rural area. So, we are focusing on it,” Anders Jensen, chief executive officer of Grameenphone, said yesterday. He said in the light of livelihood of rural people GP is planning cost effective mobile services for them. As part of the company’s rural telecommunication campaign, the CEO and other high officials were visiting Boro Koyer village in Gazipur. Among others, Rubaba Dowla, director ( marketing), Md Shafiqul Islam, chief technical officer, and Syed Yamin Bakht, director ( public relations), accompanied the CEO. The primary purpose of the visit was to know about the village people’s communications needs, their experiences with mobile telephones, and how or what Grameenphone could do to meet their communications needs, Jensen said. “We learn first about the need of villagers then we will decide what we could offer,” he said. During the visit, Jensen also handed over four laptops to the students of Koyer High School. The Grameenphone CEO also handed over some handsets with connection free of cost to villagers including farmers during the tour. Jensen explained how farmers could find the current prices of their produces in the market through the Grameenphone CellBazaar service. The country’s total number of mobile phone subscribers reached 38.93 million by the end of March 2008. Grameenphone holds leading position in the market of six operators. Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) forecasts that the number will reach 50 million by the end of this year. Grameenphone is the market leader in mobile telecommunication sector with around 17.8 million subscribers, while Orascom Telecom Bangladesh, which operates Banglalink, is the second leader with around 8.3 million subscribers. Telecom Malaysia International Bangladesh, which operates AKTEL, and Warid Telecom International are the third and fourth market player with around 7.4 million and around 2.7 million subscribers respectively. Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Ltd, which operates Citycell, and the state-run Teletalk Bangladesh are the other two operators.

Link: Pakistan: PTA lacks knowledge of market dynamics

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has not defined any parameters to check the mobile subscriber data on regular basis provided by the mobile phone companies, a senior PTA official told Daily Times on condition of anonymity. He said the authority has only two ways to check mobile phone subscriber’s data. First during the annual audit account by analysing their revenues and number of connection they have sold. Second is that, PTA has instructed all the mobile operators to verify their data with NADRA. “But still we cannot say that the data is either of active subscribers or only shows the number of connections sold by the companies,” he added. PTA official spokesperson denied comments on this, when contacted by Daily Times. A senior official in a mobile phone company said, “I guess operators try to emphasise the fact that they are doing great in terms of subscriber number and market share as these are the most obvious and understandable numbers for many stakeholders, and can be publicised easily.” When Daily Times approached the industry people they themselves claimed that the subscriber data is not an accurate measure, as it does not revel the true active subscribers figures. Recently, Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Interior, Senator Talha Mehmood said, “PTA seems least interested in regulating such practices to verify the subscribers data.” A sub-committee is constituted to look into the matter of non-verified SIMs, procedure of SIM issuance, reasons for non-verification and will give its report within 15 days to the standing committee. According to Industry people, the numbers reported on PTA website are based on data provided by the operators. Therefore it is important to note how various operators count subscribers. The 90-day rule is a standard practice in advanced markets. The practice involves counting as ACTIVE SIM any SIM on your network that shows customer activity (SMS, MMS, voice call, etc) within the last 90 days. By this rule, if a SIM does not show any customer activity on the network within the last 90-days, it is counted as inactive. All the operators should follow the 90-day rule, which is a standard practice in advanced markets, to count active/inactive SIMs in order to give a factual picture of market dynamics. Latest figures released by the PTA show that the country cellular subscribers reached 80.30 million by February 2008 with a cellular mobile density of 50.76.

Link: Rawabi launches telecom companies in Bahrain

New telecommunication companies, Rawabi Telecommunication and Software and Next Generation Network Solutions, subsidiaries of Rawabi Holding Company, were launched in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Rawabi Holding has been operating in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East for over thirty years as one of the leading industrial players in the construction and engineering, oil and gas and telecommunications and IT sectors. ‘We are targeting the commercial sector in Bahrain as well as the oil and gas sector,’ Rawabi Telecom chief Operating Officer Maro Simatovic.’ We provide a wide range of telecom and data center services in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Our creative voice and data solutions together with the state of the art Data Center facility give us the power to provide innovative packages to our clients, hence being a pioneer in providing fully integrated solutions to our corporate clients in the Kingdom with high quality and low cost.’ Rawabi Telecom was awarded three licenses from the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority in Bahrain, including the Internet Service Provider license, International Facilities License and Value Added Services license.

Link: UAE’s Etisalat to see more profit from foreign ops

Emirates Telecommunications Corp ETEL.AD (Etisalat), the largest Arab telecom company by market value, said foreign operations will contribute more to profit this year as its United Arab Emirates home market matures. Operations in countries such as Saudi Arabia, where Etisalat has a stake in the one of two mobile phone operators, will lead the diversification of revenue, Chief Executive Officer Mohammed al-Qamzi told Reuters on Thursday, after the company said it posted a record profit on more mobile phone users in the UAE. Profit growth this year will exceed 15 percent, Qamzi said.

Link: HTC targeting high-end Saudi mobile users

HTC is bringing the latest in its range of Microsoft Windows Mobile-based smart devices to this year’s exhibition. The Taiwanese mobile company is promoting its new HTC Touch Cruise and HTC Shift devices to Saudi’s tech-savvy end users. The Touch Cruise is a GPS-enabled mobile handset that includes CoPilot Live 7 built-in car navigation solution, with GCC country maps, as well as a TouchFlo touchscreen technology. The HTC Shift is a Windows Vista based mobile computer, with 7 inch scree, full QWERTY keyboard, 40GB HDD and 3G and wireless connectivity. The device also includes an on-board fingerprint sensor for added security. Kevin Chen, general manager, HTC Middle East, Africa and CIS, said: “Saudi Arabia is presently one of our most important markets for smart phones and personal digital assistants because of its excellent growth potential. GITEX Saudi Arabia 2008 provides the perfect platform for us to increase awareness about the technological superiority of our products, which have already established a strong presence in the Saudi market. “Our aggressive marketing initiatives in Saudi have also been fuelled by the country’s rapidly increasing population, powerful economy and dramatic increase in adoption of internet and other IT-enabled technologies; which all represent immense growth opportunities for HTC. Moreover, we will back up our quality products with our excellent after-sales support; a service for which we are already building up a solid reputation for in this region,” he added.

Link: Saudi Telecom First Quarter Net Income Rises 11%

Another Link: Saudi Telecom profit rises

Saudi Telecom Co., the Arab world’s largest phone company, said first-quarter profit rose 11 percent as it added subscribers. Net income climbed to 3.03 billion riyals ($810 million), or 1.51 riyals a share, from 2.72 billion riyals, or 1.36 riyals, a year earlier, the Riyadh-based company said today in a filing to the Saudi stock exchange. Saudi Telecom’s subscriber base increased by 23 percent, it said. The company has expanded overseas in preparation for a new competitor in its home market, where Kuwait’s Mobile Telecommunications Co., or Zain, is set to begin operations in the second half. In January, Saudi Telecom paid $2.56 billion for a 35 percent stake in the United Arab Emirates’ Oger Telecom Ltd., gaining access to customers in Turkey and South Africa. Last year, it won a mobile-phone operator’s license in Kuwait for $908 million, and paid $3 billion for a 25 percent interest in Malaysia’s Maxis Communications Bhd. The Maxis stake gives Saudi Telecom access to 1.4 billion people in Asia and enables it to provide roaming services to at least 1.5 million Indians working in Saudi Arabia.