As part of the third stage of the tender for two nationwide mobile licences in Myanmar, it has been announced that 11 applications were received before today’s deadline, and will now be evaluated in a process expected to be completed by June 27. Two successful bidders will be identified.

Finalisation of the process and the granting of licences is expected to occur between July and September.

This latest evaluation will consist of both a technical submission evaluation and subsequently a spectrum licence fee offer evaluation. For the applications that meet the minimum requirements set in the invitation to tender, the assessment committee will determine a score, based on a total of 1,500 points, with the following weighting:

• Technical submission evaluation: 1,000 points (67%); and

• Spectrum licence fee offer evaluation: 500 points (33%).

The list of successful applicants is as follows:

Only the 12 pre-qualified applicants from the previous pre-qualification stage of the tender were eligible to participate in the final stage of the licence award process. Out of the 12, 11 applicants submitted an application.

Zimbabwean cellco, Telecel may face having its mobile licence revoked if it does not sell a majority of its shares to local shareholders.

Communications and Infrastructural Development minister Nicholas Goche told local media that Telecel’s mobile phone licence would not be renewed until it had addressed what he called its "shareholding anomaly".

At the same time, if the licence is renewed, it will be at a higher rate of US$137 million. The licence expires next month.

The company’s Egyptian parent, Orascom Telecom owns a 60 per cent stake in the company. The remaining 40 per cent of Telecel is owned by a holding company controlled by president Robert Mugabe’s nephew, Leo Mugabe.

Telecel is required to offer a further 20 per cent to local shareholders to bring its foreign shareholding down to 40 per cent.

The sale of the Zimbabwean stake would resolve the foreign shareholder compliance, but it also reduces the likely value of the company as the pool of potential buyers is reduced to just Zimbabwean investors. That the stake has to be sold within the next few weeks would also put pressure on the owners to sell at a discount just to secure a deal.

Zimbabwe’s Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act aims to transfer at least 51 per cent control of all foreign-owned firms, including mines and banks, to locals.

At the end of March, Scott Gegenheimer completed his first full quarter as Zain Group CEO. Expectations for him to turn the Middle East player around are high, and the service provider’s operational results for the first three months of the year clearly identify the areas that require Gegenheimer’s attention. The question being whether current and future market conditions will permit him to raise Zain up to its former glory

Gegenheimer’s first full quarter as Zain CEO has seen him shift the company’s focus to several key areas, including customer experience, operational excellence and synergies, human resources, and new business areas

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MTN Group is said to be investigating another attempt at a tie up with an Indian mobile network operator.

The South African firm was forced to walk away from a merger with India’s Bharti Airtel in 2009 following domestic political opposition to the deal. Before that, talks with Reliance Communications broke down, but are now reportedly back on again.

Citing four people familiar with the talks, Bloomberg News reported that MTN is evaluating potential assets in the Indian market again.

MTN also has the upper hand in any deal as its share price has soared in recent years, while the Indian networks have seen their share prices hit by the on-going regulatory confusions and low returns for investors.

The South African firm is also shortlisted as one of the bidders for two mobile licences in Myanmar.

An attempt by Russia’s Altimo to buy the outstanding 49 per cent of Egypt’s Orascom Telecom has failed after just 16 per cent of the shares were tendered for the buyout.

Altimo already owns just under 48 per cent of VimpelCom which in turn already owns 52 per cent of Orascom Telecom, and last month launched a bid to buy the outstanding shares in the company, through a Cyprus based holding company.

The deal would have given Altimo effective control over the company through its direct and indirect holdings.

The takeover bid valued Orascom Telecom at around US$3.67 billion, a small premium on the then stock market valuation of US$3.4 billion.

However, the board of directors at Orascom Telecom rejected the takeover bid as undervaluing the company, and with just 16 per cent of the shares tendered, it would appear that the majority of the shareholders agreed.

The tender offer required that at least 26.6 per cent of the outstanding shares be tendered for the purchase to go ahead.

Although a bad result for the Russian buyer, it is seen as positive for the Cairo stock exchange, which was faced with the delisting of yet another company from its market.