UAE telecom firm to bid for Qatar's new mobile
Sunday, 12 August 2007
ABU DHABI, Aug. 11 (Xinhua): Etisalat, the telecom giant of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), will bid for Qatar's new mobile and fixed line licenses in a move to expand in the Gulf country's telecom market, local newspaper Gulf News reported yesterday.
"They will be running two rounds, one for GSM and one for fixed. ... We will participate in both," said Jamal Al Jarwan, Etisalat's general manger of international investments.
According to Qatar's Supreme Council for Information and Communications Technology, bidding for the country's second mobile license begins in September, and the winner will be announced in October.
As for Qatar's second fixed line license, the deadline for registration is Sept. 9, and the winner will be announced at the end of this year.
Etisalat is among the 12 firms deemed eligible for the country' s second mobile license, which include other Middle East operators like Jordan Telecom and Kuwait's Mobile Telecommunications Company, and international players like Vodafone and AT&T.
Both licenses will benefit Etisalat from both an operations and revenue perspective, said Al Jarwan, who believed that winning the mobile auction first would make the fixed license more attractive.
But it was too early to speculate on how aggressively Etisalat would bid for the fixed license, he added.
Established in 1976, Etisalat now manages 14 service providers in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Its services currently reach more than 32 million subscribers.
"They will be running two rounds, one for GSM and one for fixed. ... We will participate in both," said Jamal Al Jarwan, Etisalat's general manger of international investments.
According to Qatar's Supreme Council for Information and Communications Technology, bidding for the country's second mobile license begins in September, and the winner will be announced in October.
As for Qatar's second fixed line license, the deadline for registration is Sept. 9, and the winner will be announced at the end of this year.
Etisalat is among the 12 firms deemed eligible for the country' s second mobile license, which include other Middle East operators like Jordan Telecom and Kuwait's Mobile Telecommunications Company, and international players like Vodafone and AT&T.
Both licenses will benefit Etisalat from both an operations and revenue perspective, said Al Jarwan, who believed that winning the mobile auction first would make the fixed license more attractive.
But it was too early to speculate on how aggressively Etisalat would bid for the fixed license, he added.
Established in 1976, Etisalat now manages 14 service providers in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Its services currently reach more than 32 million subscribers.