MyAdhan Blog

Link: Indonesia’s Telkom emerges as bidder for Iranian telco

PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia is reportedly interested in acquiring up to 20% of Iran’s state-owned telecommunications company, Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI). “Telkom is ready to become its strategic partner. It is not yet certain how many shares we will acquire but if they (Iran) are willing to release up to 20 percent it is not impossible for us to participate,” Telkom chief commissioner, Tanri Abeng, told Indonesia’s official news agency, Antara, yesterday.

According to the report, Telkom plans to make its investment through its PT Telkom Internasional Indonesia (TII) subsidiary, its international operations unit. Tanri told the news agency that the deal will be funded internally. While Tanri declined to disclose the value of the potential investment, shares representing 5% of TCI raised US$367 million on the Tehran Stock Exchange in an August sale, which would value the company at US$7.34 billion.

As of the end of September, TCI had 24 million fixed line subscribers and 28 million mobile users. The company also operates a 79,000km optical fibre network in the country. According to charts on the Tehran Stock Exchange yesterday, shares of TCI aretrading close to 20% above its initial listing price. The sale of TCI is part of the Iranian government’s privatisation drive for state-owned entities across major industries. Foreign companies from South Africa, Saudi Arabia, France and Russia have reportedly expressed interest in TCI.

Link: Kuwait: Zain telco Q3 keeps 08 goal after resuming net growth

Kuwait’s Mobile Telecommunications Co (Zain) (ZAIN.KW: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) on Wednesday said it would keep its 2008 goal of net profit growth of 5 percent after resuming profit growth in the third-quarter despite heavy investments in the Middle East and Africa. The Arab world’s third-largest telecoms operator by market value, which just raised $4.5 billion to fund an expansion, said net income in the three months to Sept. 30 rose by 1.2 percent to 87.2 million dinars ($322.7 million) after posting a 3.6 percent fall in the second quarter.

This was below the 96.20 million dinars that Kuwaiti investment bank Global Investment House had forecast for third-quarter net profit in a Reuters survey last month. But the number of customers of Zain, which has been spending billions to expand to 22 countries, rose by 54 percent to 56.3 millions at the end of September.

Zain spokesman Ibrahim Adel said investments in an expansion such as the launch of the Saudi operation had being weighing in the quarter as in previous ones but the company kept its 2008 outlook of around 5 percent profit growth. “Saudi Arabia is a huge investment. It is performing very well with 1 million customers in less than two months but it will take time until it will post a net profit,” Chief Executive Saad al-Barrak told Reuters in a statement. For 2009, Zain expects even 30 percent profit growth as those investments would pay off, Barrak said on Monday.

Link: UAE: RTA launches mobile phone Salik top-up service

Dubai’s transport authority on Sunday launched a way for motorists to top up their Salik accounts via their mobile phones. The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said motorists can use the service by signing up to the mPay portal of Dubai e-government. RTA chairman Mattar Al-Tayer said in a statement the introduction of the mobile top-up system will be well received due to how frequently motorists have to top up their Salik accounts.

The Salik road toll was first introduced in July 2007 with toll gates on Al-Garhoud Bridge and Sheikh Zayed Road opposite Mall of the Emirates. The scheme was expanded in September this year with gates on Al-Maktoum Bridge and Sheikh Zayed Road next to Al Safa. Motorists have to pay four dirhams ($1.10) each time they go through a toll gate, paying a maximum of 24 dirhams in any one day.

Link: Saudi Arabia: Mobily posts 73% increase in Q3 profit

Saudi mobile phone firm Etihad Etisalat (Mobily), Saudi Arabia’s second mobile phone firm, beat forecasts with a 73.3 percent rise in net third quarter profit to 539 million riyals ($143.7 million). The company made 311 million riyals in the third quarter of 2007, it said in a statement on the Saudi bourse website. Analysts’ forecasts for Mobily’s quarterly profit ranged from 380 million riyals to 553.30 million riyals in a Reuters survey, with an average forecast of 492.12 million riyals.

LinK: Vodafone Egypt sees revenue growth slowing in ‘08

Mobile phone operator Vodafone expects revenue growth in Egypt to slow to about 18 to 20 percent this year as competition and market penetration in the most populous Arab country increases, an executive said on Monday. “Revenue growth will be in the 18 percent to 20 percent range,” Richard Daly, chief executive of Vodafone Egypt told reporters at a conference in Cairo. “Last year growth was well over 30 percent.”

“There is a natural curve in our growth and we are in a three-player market now,” he said. Egypt, where economic growth surged to 7.2 percent last year, sold a third mobile licence in 2006 to Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates. Revenue from Vodafone helped boost profit this year at Telecom Egypt, Egypt’s fixed-line monopoly, which owns 45 percent of Vodafone Egypt.

The overall mobile market in Egypt could grow by 50 percent by the end of 2008, Egyptian mobile operator Mobinil said in April.

Link: Dubai eGovernment selects ITWorx to implement new mobile payment system, mPay

The Dubai eGovernment department has launched its latest eService to make it easier for citizens and businesses to interact with the Government. mPay, provided by leading Egyptian professional software services firm, ITWorx, initially covers the Roads and Traffic Authority’s Salik road tolling system that allows customers to recharge accounts using their mobile phone.

The Dubai eGovernment ePay provides an online payment service via the web; however using the mPay service, customers can now also register their credit card information online, which is then used as a payment tool for future recharge requests coming from their mobile.

The mPay system will be hosted at the Dubai eGovernment data centre which will receive requests from customers through SMS. The customer simply sends an SMS to charge or pay for a specific service, and mPay integrates with the service provider’s back-end system to complete the payment transaction.

“mPay technology removes the frustration of forgetting to recharge or to pay service fees, because it’s now possible to do it anytime, anywhere, through mobile phones,” said Hafez Hamdy, Marketing Director for ITWorx, whose technology makes this service possible.

“The design of the service takes into consideration the importance of the security, performance, and reliability of such a vital public service system and, most importantly, the mPay technology is designed to allow for the smooth addition of future services with minimal effort to avoid unnecessary investment in the short term.”

“Dubai eGovernment is delighted to introduce this new and highly convenient service to our customers,” said Mr. Salem Al Shair, eServices Director, Dubai eGovernment.
“We are expecting to experience high take-up by Salik users and look forward to receiving feedback from customers,” he said.

Link: Bangladesh mobile phone users drop in September

The number of mobile phone users in Bangladesh dropped by 310,000 in September to 45.09 million for the first time as all three top companies lost their subscribers, regulator’s data showed. Subscriber of Grameenphone, mostly controlled by Norway’s Telenor, fell to 20.82 million in September from 20.84 million in August, said the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.

Egyptian Orascom Telecom’s Banglalink saw its user number drop to 10.14 million from 10.17 million while Aktel, 70 percent owned by Telekom Malaysia and the rest bought by Japan’s NTT DoCoMo last month, ended September with 7.63 million users from 8.14 million in August. However, industry insiders said the market was still growing. The number of subscribers has fallen as operators cut off unregistered SIM cards after the government introduced new regulations requiring personal details to be recorded for security concerns.

The industry regulator ordered mobile operators in August 2007 to re-register customers who bought connections before February 28, 2006. The deadline ended May 31. For years operators in the South Asian country have been allowed to sell the cards without asking to see identification and registering the purchaser’s personal details.

Gulf-based Warid Telecom raised its user base to 3.86 million users in September from 3.68 million while the only CDMA carrier CityCell, 45 percent owned by Singapore Telecommunication, and state-owned Teletalk also saw their user bases to rise. The number of mobile phone users rose nearly 58 percent in 2007 to 34.4 million, the telecoms watchdog said, helped by competitive tariffs, cheap handsets and moderate economic growth. Mobile phone services have emerged as an important contributor to the cash-strapped nation’s economy.

Link: Etisalat unveils retail strategy to market mobile handsets and 3G devices across Asia, Africa and Middle East

Etisalat today unveiled its strategy for the retail of mobile devices and terminals across 17 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Etisalat will now look to negotiate purchase contracts with international vendors and Own Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) on behalf of its subsidiaries. This strategy will provide great value for its consumers through lower priced devices and promotional bundles.

As a part of the strategy, Etisalat will introduce its own range of telecommunications devices and handsets, which will be branded especially for Etisalat and its subsidiaries. It will also negotiate retail agreements with global leaders in mobile phones and devices to maximize the corporate’s purchasing power and provide maximum value for its consumers.

This ultimate objective of the strategy is to provide state-of-the-art-devices in packages to meet customers’ needs and bring more added value and services to its markets at competitive prices. This will help bring both high-end models and entry-level devices into reach of consumers across Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

“Etisalat has successfully carved a position for itself within the list of the world’s most influential operators through our ongoing expansion strategy. The next phase in our growth is to activate synergies, whether this in terms of acquisitions, knowledge or in other areas,” said Mohammad Hassan Omran, Chairman of Etisalat. “Our corporate strategy is based on extending the reach of all of our customers, wherever they are living or traveling. Our retail strategy will support this by providing devices and technologies at an accessible price point.”

Etisalat was ranked the largest operator in the Arab World and one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world in the Financial Times 500 survey, earlier this year. It has expanded into its 17th market in September. Its international subsidiaries give it access to approximately 1.6 billion potential consumers.

Link: Bahrain: Phone number portability draft law published

Bahrain’s telecoms regulator on Sunday issued a public consultation document on the implementation of number portability, which will allow phone numbers to be transferred between operators through the establishment of a central database.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) said all interested parties have been invited to respond to the draft regulation, under which operators will be required to allow customers to transfer their numbers, something that is currently not allowed.

TRA general director Alan Horne said the move will “empower the consumers with more choice and freedom to select any operator for their fixed or mobile services”. “The implementation of number portability will encourage operators to improve services to keep their customers,” Horne said in a statement. The statement did not say how long the consultation will last for.

Link: 90% of Kuwait’s outgoing international calls are from mobile phones

The Kuwaiti cellular market awaits the launch of the third mobile operator Viva by the end of 2008. A new report from Arab Advisors Group fully analyzes the Kuwaiti telecommunications markets. Kuwait’s telecom market is still firmly in government hands. The Ministry of Communications (MOC)Ministry of Communications (MOC)Loading… solely operates Kuwait’s fixed telecommunications network and is also the regulatory entity for the telecommunications sector in the country. Development plans are issued by the MOCMOCLoading…. Parliament’s approval is essential for matters pertaining to operating licenses, liberalization policies and privatization issues. The Kuwaiti government owns minority interest in all cellular operators, while the Internet market is completely served by private sector companies.

A new report, Kuwait Communications Projections Report was released to Arab Advisors Group’s strategic research service subscribers on October 9, 2008. The report -which has 100 pages and 100 detailed exhibits- fully analyzes the communications markets in Kuwait and presents detailed profiles of all the major operators including the Ministry of Communications, Zain, Wataniya and the upcoming third mobile operator, Viva. The report also provides 5-years historical and 5-years projections for many telecom and demographic indicators in the country.

This report can be purchased from the Arab Advisors Group for only US$ 1,250. Please contact the Arab Advisors Group to get a copy of the report’s Table of Contents.

“The cellular market in Kuwait continues to grow steadily. Cellular subscribers reached 2.77 million in 2007; a penetration rate of 81.6%. With the entrance of the STC-led third mobile operator and as full competition starts, the Arab Advisors Group expects the operators to engage in tariff competition. This will drive market growth going forward and drop monthly ARPU. We project cellular subscribers to grow at a CAGR of 9.4% from 2008 to 2012, reaching 4.37 million and a penetration rate of 97.2%.” Mr. Samer Abbas, Senior research analyst of Arab Advisors Group wrote in the report.

Outgoing international calling traffic and revenues through the MOCMOCLoading…’s exchanges declined slightly in 2007. After a recovery in 2006, outgoing international calls went down again by 5.3% in 2007, to reach 214 million calls. Owing to the massive cellular subscriber base in Kuwait, the vast majority of international calls originate from mobile lines. In 2007, mobile lines accounted for 90% of outgoing international calls and 86.4% of outgoing international call minutes.

The Arab Advisors Group’s team of analysts in the region has produced close to 1,290 reports on the Arab World’s communications and media markets. The reports can be purchased individually or received through an annual subscription to Arab Advisors Group’s (www.arabadvisors.com) Strategic Research Services (Media and Telecom). To date, Arab Advisors Group has served over 495 global and regional companies by providing reliable research analysis and forecasts of Arab communications markets to these clients.