As competition heats up, African cellular provider MTN says it is not done with its Middle East expansion plans.
MTN aims to be the leading telecommunications firm in de eloping markets and - as a result - continues "to identify and pursue value-enhancing expansion opportunities that meet its key investment criteria for expansion in Africa and the Middle East".
Analysts previously indicated they expect MTN to have a quiet year as it beds down its recent acquisition of Investcom. In November 2005, it became a 49% shareholder in Irancell and followed this up in July 2006 with the acquisition of Investcom.
MTN has been in the news lately as speculation emerged that T-Mobile, one of Deutsche Telekom's three strategic business units, may buy the company, which has a market capitalisation of between R150 billion and R180 billion.
Last year, China Mobile denied making a bid for the company, which has said it will focus on Africa and the Middle East, where there is room for growth. MTN currently operates in four countries in the Middle East and Asian region: Afghanistan and Iran, Syria and Yemen.
Hoping for an edge
The cellular operator, which operates a 2.5G GSM network in Iran and a 3G network in Syria, says it is focusing on enhancing its technologies in the region. "The group's licence in Iran allows for the roll-out of an Edge-enabled network," which the company says it is in the process of doing.
Edge and 3G were recently launched in Syria in cities such as Damascus, and MTN has plans to cover other major cities soon. "MTN is expanding Edge to cover other major cities in Syria, with plans to offer video streaming and other multimedia services and products."
It aims to expand its service offerings across the rest of the region, although operations in Afghanistan and Iran are still at an early stage.
Facing competition
New York-listed Motorola earlier this year said it would deploy a nationwide 3G network in Kuwait for MTC Kuwait. GM of the cellular operator Barrak Al Sabeeh said: "Motorola's high-performance network solution will enable MTC to provide customers with a compelling portfolio of services such as video conferencing, which is steadily gaining popularity here in the Middle East."
The network will enable MTC Kuwait to exploit opportunities for multimedia services, expanding capacity, availability and broadband capabilities to support more voice and data transmission in Kuwait, the company said.
MTC, which has a market capitalisation of over $14.4 billion, offers mobile and data services in six Middle Eastern and 14 sub-Saharan African countries to over 25 million customers. It operates in Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan, Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Nigeria.
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