Etisalat Benin, a wholly owned subsidiary of Etisalat Group, has been awarded a universal service licence for the West African country. The concession gives Etisalat Benin the right to provide 3G and 4G services and any other mobile telecommunications technology that becomes available for the next 20 years.

Speaking at an event in Dubai recently, mobile network operator CEOs discussed their companies’ experiences with mobile broadband deployments, and while many opportunities have been created through the emergence of the technology, others have been lost as well

Dowidar acknowledges that as the mobile broadband proposition began gaining ground, Vodafone Egypt could have worked harder on offering differentiated services and segmenting its customer base further

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Saudi retail investors face hefty losses after a royal decree ordered the liquidation of Saudi Integrated Telecom Co. (SITC), which floated its shares in an initial public offer (IPO) in 2011 but never commenced operations.

SITC’s failure highlights the dominance of speculative retail traders in the Saudi market, who chase rising prices with little regard for fundamental valuations.

The Capital Market Authority (CMA) bourse regulator halted trading in SITC’s shares on February 5 when the stock was trading at SAR24.35 (US$6.51), more than double the initial public offer price of SAR10 but half the all-time closing high of SAR50.50 hit in March 2012, which valued the company at 5.05 billion Saudi riyals ($1.35 billion).

However, some shareholders at least could be in line to receive a pay-out from the liquidation committee, which comprises the CMA, the ministry of commerce and the telecom regulator, as the company had 100 million shares in issue and reported net assets of SAR910 million at the end of 2012.

King Abdullah’s decree said that the company should be liquidated within six months and the priority in the repaying of its obligations is to its non-founder subscribers and shareholders.

The monarch ordered the company’s liquidation last month after promising in 2012 to ensure trading rules applied to everyone, including the ruling Al-Saud family. The company’s chairman is Prince Saud bin Khaled bin Abdullah Al Saud.

Prince Saud owned a 43 per cent stake in SITC as recently as last September, according to Thomson Reuters data. This was held through various holding companies and these and other founding shareholders made a winning bid in 2007 of SAR1 billion for a licence to provide fixed-line services.

The founding shareholders were to pay SAR650 million of this fee, with the other SAR350 million to be raised through an IPO and a five per cent stake sale to the state pension fund.

SITC concluded its IPO and listed in June 2011, despite still not receiving its telecom operating licence and recorded no revenue that year or in 2012, Thomson Reuters data shows.

The founding shareholders did not pay up for their part of the licence fee until January this year, according to a stock market filing, but the company told Reuters it had provided the regulator in the interim with a bank guarantee in lieu of immediate payment of the fee.

Zain Group has announced that in compliance with the provisions of its telecom licence in Iraq, Atheer Telecom Iraq (Zain Iraq) is required to offer at least 25 per cent of its shares on the Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX). To that end, Zain Iraq has taken the following steps:

1. Since only Iraqi-domiciled joint-stock companies can list on the ISX, Zain Iraq’s shareholders, led by Zain, are in the process of establishing a joint-stock company under the name of Al-Khatem Telecommunications Company (Al-Khatem).

2. The Iraq Companies Law requires that Al-Khatem invite the public to subscribe to the capital at the time of incorporation. As such, Al-Khatem is offering 55.9 million shares for subscription for a period of thirty days from June 4, 2013.

3. After completing this constituent public subscription process, and the fulfilment of other regulatory requirements, Al-Khatem expects to receive a final approval for incorporation from the Companies Registration Department. This will allow Al-Khatem to commence the necessary steps towards a subsequent offer of 25 per cent of its share capital on the ISX, subject to approval by the telecom and capital market regulatory authorities in Iraq.

Alcatel-Lucent and Regional Telecom, a communications service provider in Northern Iraq have celebrated the launch of Iraq’s first 4G LTE network, provided under the Fastlink brand.

This constitutes the first large-scale wireless broadband services in Iraq, with Alcatel-Lucent providing its end-to-end 4G LTE solution, including base stations, IP mobile backhaul for 4G LTE and existing 3G CDMA traffic, Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and elements of its platforms, which will allow Regional Telecom to introduce a rich portfolio of advanced IP-based services.

“High-speed mobile broadband is the major growth opportunity for the foreseeable future, and we are excited to be able to bring this impressive capability to our customers in Iraq,” commented Kawa Junad, Chairman of Regional Telecom.