Qtel Group may not have it all its own way when it comes to bidding for Zain Saudi Arabia given confirmation from Batelco Group CEO Peter Kaliaropoulos that his company may be interested in the asset should Zain Group be pushed to dispose of it as a result of an approach by Etisalat.

Kaliaropoulos has clarified that interest in opportunities such as the one that may be presented in Saudi Arabia is part of Batelco’s strategy to explore suitable M&A opportunities outside of Bahrain.

“We have many times reiterated that we continue to look for viable opportunities to deliver sustainable growth and value to our shareholders as our home market has reached very high penetration levels. Our strategic focus remains the Middle East region in addition to North Africa, India/Asia Pacific.”

Batelco is already present in Saudi Arabia through its investment in alternative provider Atheeb, and thus Kaliaropoulos suggests it would only be natural that should the opportunity be presented to invest further in the kingdom, Batelco explore it.

At this point Batelco is not in direct discussion with any parties involved but Kaliaropoulos has indicated that the telco’s M&A team is investigating the feasibility of the Zain Saudi Arabia opportunity.

The suspension of BlackBerry services in the UAE is set to take effect on October 11 should the parties not be able to reach agreement on UAE authorities being given access to data being transferred from BlackBerry devices to servers situated off-shore.

On August 1, the UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) confirmed that BlackBerry Messenger, BlackBerry e-mail and BlackBerry web-browsing services in the UAE would be suspended as of October 11 as, “a result of the failure of ongoing attempts, dating back to 2007, to bring BlackBerry services in the UAE in line with UAE telecommunications regulations.”

It is understood that negotiations have been taking place between Research In Motion (RIM) representative and the TRA, though at this time no agreement has been made.

RIM, the manufacturer of BlackBerry devices, faced similar threats of closure or suspension of its services in India and Saudi Arabia in the past few months; and in each case was able to prevent the suspension taking effect. It had been expected that the Canadian company would be able to negotiate a similar stay of execution in the UAE.

Russian mobile phone operator VimpelCom is reported to be nearing a US$7 billion deal to merge with most of the telecom assets of Egyptian telecom entrepreneur Naguib Sawiris.

Despite previous denials by Sawiris that such a development was under foot, VimpelCom, whose current market value is US$19 billion, looks poised to acquire most of Sawiris’ telecom assets in emerging markets as well as Italian mobile operator Wind.

Sawiris’ private investment vehicle that controls Wind and the Cairo-listed Orascom Telecom group, Weather Investments, will receive US$2 billion in cash under the deal and a 20 per cent stake in VimpelCom.

The transaction, under which VimpelCom could assume at least US$12 billion of debt held by Weather, will exclude Orascom’s 29 per cent stake in a holding company that controls Egyptian mobile operator, ECMS, and Sawiris’ mobile business in North Korea. France Telecom is the other major shareholder in ECMS.

VimpelCom is 39.6 per cent-owned by Norwegian operator Telenor, while Alfa’s Altimo unit holds 39.2 per cent and minority shareholders own 21.2 per cent. Their stakes will be diluted under the agreement with Sawiris.

Qatar Telecom (Qtel) is reported to be a potential bidder to buy Zain’s Saudi Arabian subsidiary if the UAE’s Etisalat succeeds in a bid to take a majority stake in Zain’s parent company, Zain Group. Etisalat – through its affiliate Mobily – already has an existing network in Saudi Arabia, and it is presumed that the government would require Etisalat to sell one of its operations in the kingdom.

Zain was awarded the third mobile licence Saudi Arabia in 2007, for a licence fee amounting to US$6.1 billion. In February 2008 the company completed its IPO that saw 8.5 million subscribers request to participate in the 700 million shares (50 per cent of the company’s capital) on offer, raising US$1.87 billion.

Zain Saudi Arabia counted more than seven million subscribers as of end-June 2010, and is led by Saad Al Barrak, the former managing director of Zain Group. It was his vision that established the parent company, and it would not be without irony if he was the one left to preside over the take over of the Saudi unit of the cellco to Qtel.

The UAE’s Etisalat has confirmed it has submitted a bid to acquire a 46 per cent stake in the recently downsized Arab mobile operator Zain Group. Should the deal go through, as analysts and market commentators expect it shall, the acquisition will represent the final stage of the decline of Zain from leading pan-Arab/African operator in early 2009, to investment opportunity with little future as a standalone operation.

Etisalat said it had made a bid amounting to KWD 1.7 (US$5.96) a share for a 46 per cent stake in Zain, valuing the offer at US$11.8 billion.

Kharafi Group, which is believed to control around 20 per cent of Zain Group stock, said it would accept Etisalat’s offer for its stake. Nasser al-Kharafi, the head of Kharafi Group is reported to have told media in Kuwait that the offer was “suitable and good for both parties”.

It was the Kharafi Group’s need for cash which is believed to have prompted the US$10.7 billion sale of Zain’s mobile assets in Africa to India’s Bharti Airtel earlier this year. It is the continued cash crunch that is understood to be driving the further sale of Zain assets.

Etisalat said its bid is conditional, and is dependent on the fulfilment of specific requirements and conditions. A Zain insider told Comm. he believed these to be related to outstanding Zain loans as well as the overlap of operations in Saudi Arabia, where both Etisalat and Zain Group have operations.