Axiom secures US$400 million and plans MVNO

The CEO of Dubai-based mobile wholesaler, distributor and retailer Axiom Telecom has confirmed the company is planning an MVNO for the region, as it announced securing US$400 million in a syndicated term loan facility.

Faisal Al Bannai, CEO of Axiom Telecom, said forming an MVNO for the region is definitely part of the company’s strategy. 

“From our point of view, we are definitely moving to an MVNO as one of our key strategic directions,” Faisal Al Bannai, Axiom CEO told Comm. “The key is which is the right market to move in to that will capitalise on our existing infrastructure and our existing strength?”

Al Bannai emphasised that while it is relatively easy to launch an MVNO and many international brands have done so worldwide, many have also failed because they did not have the right ingredients to succeed.

“We think we have these ingredients but we want to make sure when we select the market to launch that we have all the key pillars to do so, rather than becoming an MVNO for the sake of being one. It is definitely a discussion we will have with our partner operators in the region and we are trying to find the right win-win approach to launch such operations,” Al Bannai commented.

Axiom is the largest authorised distributor and retailer of mobile phones in the Middle East in both branded and partner outlets, and has a presence in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, London, Egypt, and most recently India.

Last July Axiom formed a 50/50 joint venture with India’s leading retailer, Pantaloon Retail, to gain a foothold in the world’s second largest mobile market in terms of subscriber numbers as part of a global expansion strategy.

Axiom’s global ambitions include having 2,500 points of presence globally by 2010, many of which will come from its entry into India, where the Al Bannai estimates five million handsets are being sold nationwide every month.

Axiom chairman Abdulaziz Al Bannai would not confirm which countries are next in Axiom’s plan to become one of the largest mobile wireless retailers.

Emirates Bank NBD, JPMorgan and Dubai Islamic Bank arranged the transaction amongst eight participating banks for loans to Axiom amounting toUS$235 million from conventional banking and AED605 million (US$165 million) from Islamic banking.