The MTN Group has concluded agreements with the local shareholders of the IranCell consortium, to become a 49% shareholder in IranCell.
Mohammad Soleymani, Iranian minister of communications and IT, has declared IranCell as the provisional licensee for the second GSM licence in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The minister has also awarded the consortium a temporary licence.
MTN has long sought the stake in the lucrative Iranian mobile market, losing out to Turkish mobile operator Turkcell when it was awarded a 70% stake in IranCell last year. However, the Iranian Parliament later stripped the Turkish firm of the managing shareholding and invited the local operator back into talks.
Iran is believed to have around five million cellphone users in a country with a population of approximately 70 million, many of whom are affluent.
MTN Group said in a statement issued today that the licence process requires the payment of an up-front licence fee of 300 million euro. MTN has provided Soleymani with a payment guarantee for this amount.
The statement said: "This potential opportunity is in line with the MTN Group`s vision to be the leader in telecommunications in developing markets, with the Middle East being the natural extension of the MTN Group`s strong existing footprint in Africa."
MTN noted that the award of the licence is still subject to certain regulatory approvals and "a further announcement will be made in due course".
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