Qtel completes Arab world's largest telecom takeover

Mar 13, 2007, 22:27 GMT

Manama, Bahrain - Qatar Telecom (Qtel) late Tuesday announced the completed acquisition of a controlling stake in Kuwait- based National Mobile Telecommunications Company KSC (Wataniya).

The acquisition is the largest telecom deal in the Arab world at 3.8 billion dollars, as Qtel acquired 233.7 million shares in Wataniya Telecom from KIPCO and other related parties.

The acquisition represents 51 per cent of Wataniya Telecom's share capital and includes two additional stakes of 9 per cent each in Wataniya Telecom's operations in Algeria and Iraq.

'This is a significant day for Qtel. The enlarged group will become a major force in telecoms in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region,' said Qtel Chairman Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud al-Thani. 'We look forward to creating an integrated group that includes our operations in Indonesia, Singapore, Oman and Qatar.'

Al-Thani pointed out that the combined operations of the two regional telecom firms will cover combined populations of 100 million in Kuwait, Algeria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the Maldives, Tunisia and the Palestinian territories.

The enlarged group has operations in 11 countries with a controlled customer base of nearly 12 million combined and total customer base of 32 million.

Wataniya in Kuwait has more than 1 million customers and is considered one of the more advanced network operators in the region, with strong ongoing revenues generated from an array of innovative services.

Tunisiana, a joint venture between Wataniya and Orascom, is growing rapidly with more than 3 million customers, increasing its markets share to 48 per cent up from 45 per cent last year.

Nedjma in Algeria, owned 71 per cent by Wataniya, has more than 3 million subscribers and an increasing market share.

The mobile market in Algeria has substantial growth potential remaining, with current market penetration at just over 50 per cent.

Other operations within the Wataniya group include an iDEN, push- to-talk business in Saudi Arabia, a 49-per-cent shareholding in Asia Cell Iraq, a mobile startup in the Palestinian market and an active mobile operation in the Maldives.

Qtel has just passed 1 million customers in Qatar and Oman, and earlier this year the company acquired a 25-per-cent share of Asia Mobile Holding Pte Ltd (AMH) that controls Singapore's Starhub, which has 2 million customers, & PT Indosat with more than 18 million customers.

'This deal perfectly matches our regional strategy and is an important step towards us achieving our vision to be a top-20 telco by 2020,' said Qtel Vice Chairman Sheikh Mohammed bin Suhaim al- Thani. 'The transaction meets our investment criteria for acquisitions. We moved fast to close this in the face of hot competition.'