16 Nov 2010
(MENAFN) Syria’s Deputy Telecom Minister, Mohammad Al Galali, announced that six companies have applied to become Syria’s third cell phone operator besides South Africa�s MTN and Syriatel, Reuters reported.
According to Al Galali, the applying companies were France Telecom, Turkcell, Emirates Telecommunications Corp (Etisalat), Saudi Telecom, Qtel of Qatar and Iran’s Tamco.
Telecom executives said that competition for the third license will not be easy, with Saudi Telecom having deep pockets and Turkcell gaining a knowledge of the market after a failed attempt to acquire Syriatel, one of the existing two operators, two years ago.
Syriatel and MTN operate in Syria under 15-year build, operate and transfer (BOT) contracts that government will scrap next year and convert to 20-year licenses for a fee of $537 million each.
It is worth mentioning that Syria has 10.4 million cell phone subscribers, including prepaid cards, according to Telecom Ministry figures.
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