MTS Finds Partner in Egypt
In an effort to expand worldwide, Russia’s cellular giant, Mobile TeleSystems (or MTS) is bidding for the GSM license in Egypt. The chances of MTS are slim, according to the experts, who stake on operators of the Persian Gulf.
The list of bidders released by Egyptian authorities yesterday sets forth 11 world consortiums, including MTS. The tender is slated for late June. Each of the bidders has entered into a partnership agreement with one of the local operators. The partner of MTS in Egypt is TeleTech.
Egyptian Telecom and Technology Co. (TeleTech brand) was founded in December 2002 with the stock capital of $17.4 million. TeleTech is a system integrator that introduces equipment of Lucent Technologies.
En route to the GSM license in Egypt, MTS will have to contend such giants as Telecom Italia, Emirates Telecommunications, Kuwait’s MTS and Wataniya International, Turkish Turkcell, Norwegian Telenor, Qatar Telecom, Saudi Telecom Co. in tandem with Telekom Malaysia, South African MTN and an alliance of Indian Reliance and Emak of Kuwait’s Kharafi Group.
In MTS, they emphasize that TeleTech drives up their chances for success. The analysts are not so optimistic though, pointing out the availability of a local operator is one of the tender provisions. The chances of MTS are slim, said Vladimir Postolovsky, senior analyst at Brunswick UBS. “The thing is that amid companies, which applied for the tender, there are a great number of local operators working in the nearby regions. They may even overpay for Egyptian license.”
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of May 05, 2006
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