Third Saudi MVNO may enter market a year later than first two

In a ceremony held at the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) this afternoon, the Saudi telecom regulator officially handed possession of the kingdom’s two MVNO licences to Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa (VMMEA), and to Jawraa Lebara. A third licence, which had initially been won by Axiom Telecom and subsequently suspended, was not awarded.

People familiar with the situation suggest that the third licence will now be re-tendered in a process set to take place later in the year, and is only likely to be awarded late this year or early next depending on how long the CITC takes to undertake its review of the process. This would place the winning MVNO as well as its network operator partner – Zain Saudi Arabia – at a distinct disadvantage to the other two MVNOs, which are both preparing to launch commercial services as early as June.

VMMEA’s network partner is STC, while Jawraa Lebara’s is Mobily.