STC in one horse race for Bahrain’s third mobile licence

Bahrain’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has confirmed that Saudi Arabia’s STC is the only contender for the country’s third mobile licence.

STC’s financial bid will not be opened until January 22, despite being the only bidder for Bahrain’s third mobile licence

The regulator had previously announced that there were four registered bidders, although only the one submitted a bid when the auction closed yesterday.

Despite being the only company in the running, the TRA is waiting for  the technical aspects of STC’s bid to be approved before its financial bid will be opened on January 22.

The TRA stated that the Saudi operator had passed pre-qualification requirements with group revenues in excess of US$9 billion per annum, operations in Saudi Arabia and six other countries, more than 60 million subscribers and deployments of the latest technology.

The two mobile incumbents are Batelco and Zain Bahrain, with the country having a mobile penetration rate of 138 per cent as of September 2008.

STC has been a late entrant to overseas expansion, but acquiring a mobile licence in Bahrain would be its fourth significant strategic investment since June 2007.

It spent almost US$6.5 billion in its combined purchases of a 25 per cent stake in Malaysia’s Maxis, a 26 per cent stake in Kuwait’s third mobile firm Viva, and 35 per cent of Oger Telecom, which gives the operator access to Turkey and South Africa.