ftp://ftp.hatiftelecom.com/images/chip1.gif

ftp://ftp.hatiftelecom.com/images/chip2.gif

 


ftp://ftp.hatiftelecom.com/images/HatifNews.gifftp://ftp.hatiftelecom.com/images/about.gif   ftp://ftp.hatiftelecom.com/images/products.gif   ftp://ftp.hatiftelecom.com/images/control.gif          

ftp://ftp.hatiftelecom.com/images/chip3.gif

ftp://ftp.hatiftelecom.com/images/chip4.gif


Egypt Telecom News

 

Egypt may sell ‘sizable’ Telecom Egypt stake within two years (From Bloomberg, March 4, 2010)

 

(Bloomberg) - Egypt may sell a “sizable” stake in fixed-line telephone monopoly Telecom Egypt within the next two years, Communications Minister Tarek Kamel said in an interview.

 

“Definitely there are plans in the future to offer more shares,” Kamel said in a Bloomberg Television interview in Singapore today. “Within the timeframe of two years’ time there could be an additional stake floated on the Cairo stock exchange. It would be definitely a sizable stake,” he said, without specifying how much might be sold.

 

Egypt’s government raised 4.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($820 million) in the December 2005 initial public offering of 20 percent of Telecom Egypt. The company’s market capitalization of $6.1 billion now compares with the valuation of about $4.6 billion at the time of the IPO.

 

Kamel is in Singapore to attract investment. Indian companies including Satyam Computer Services Ltd. and Infosys Technologies Ltd. have successfully invested in Egypt in the past five years, he said. The companies have then used Egypt as a base to export services to neighboring countries, Kamel said.

 

The minister also said the government may award a fourth wireless license “in the coming few years.” The main aim will be to focus on “value-added services as well as new applications,” Kamel said.

 

“In 2011 we would definitely be in a position to make the necessary announcements” regarding a fourth license, he said.

 

The current licenses are held by Vodafone Egypt, a venture between Telecom Egypt and Vodafone Group Plc; The Egyptian Co. for Mobile Services, the venture between Orascom Telecom Holding SAE and France Telecom SA known as Mobinil; and Etisalat Egypt, a unit of Emirates Telecommunications Corp.

 

Egypt's Mobinil says on track for revenue target (March 22, 2009)

 

CAIRO (Reuters) - Mobinil, Egypt's largest mobile operator by subscribers, said on Sunday it was on track to meet a 10 percent target for revenue growth and that a dispute between shareholders should be resolved "soon."

 

"The first two months of the year we can't say it has been business as usual, but we should be able to achieve 10 percent," Hassan Kabbani, the company's chief executive, told Reuters in an interview.

 

He also said a dispute between Mobinil shareholders France Telecom and Orascom Telecom should be resolved "soon" and the settlement would not impact Mobinil's operations.

 

Egypt's Mobinil says Q3 net income up 15 pct (November 2, 2008)

 

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Mobinil EMOB.CA said on Sunday its third quarter net income rose by 15 percent to 541 million Egyptian pounds ($97 million).

 

That beat the expectations of investment bank EFG-Hermes, which forecast a drop to 388 million pounds.

 

The company said it would take legal action after Egypt's telecoms regulator ruled on a dispute in favor of state-owned landline monopoly Telecom Egypt ETEL.CA by changing interconnect prices between fixed and mobile networks.

 

A spokesman for Mobinil refused to give further details.

 

The firm, which boasts the largest number of mobile subscribers in Egypt, has a history of wrangling with the National Telecoms Regulatory Authority (NTRA).

 

In April, the firm said it was delaying payment of a 750 million pound installment on a 3G license fee because the NTRA was late in handing over the frequency band for testing.

 

Mobinil, whose main shareholders are France Telecom and Orascom Telecom ORTE.CA, competes in a three-way race for market share in Egypt with Vodafone Egypt and Etisalat Egypt.

 

The company said its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for the third quarter rose by 29 percent to 1.273 billion pounds.

 

Subscribers reached 18.91 million by the end of the quarter, up 38 percent from a year earlier. ($1 = 5.5733 Egyptian pounds)

 

S&P: Orascom Telecom outlook cut to negative after downgrade of Pakistani unit (October 8, 2008)

 

MUMBAI (Thomson Financial) - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services revised its outlook on Egypt-based wireless telecommunications operator Orascom Telecom Holdings S.A.E. to negative from stable, after the downgrade of wholly owned unit Pakistan Mobile Communications Ltd. (Mobilink).

 

Orascom's ratings were affirmed.

 

"The outlook revision reflects concerns that a weakening economic environment in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan may result in lower-than-originally expected returns from the Pakistani market for Orascom Telecom," said S&P's credit analyst Michael O'Brien.

 

He noted that Mobilink is Orascom's second largest operation.

 

Egypt's Orascom Telecom sets new share buyback (August 18, 2008)

 

CAIRO (Reuters) - Mobile operator Orascom Telecom said on Monday it would buy back up to 8.9 million GDRs or 44.9 million ordinary shares over the next 12 months.

 

The shares, with a current market value of about 2.4 billion Egyptian pounds , represent 4.4 percent of the company's total capital, according to stock exchange data.

 

It will be the company's third buyback program this year. In the previous two it bought from the market and then cancelled 128.7 million shares in a capital reduction operation.

 

At the time of the earlier buybacks, the company said it had a large cash surplus and could not find attractive alternative investments.

 

In a statement on Monday, the company said it intended to keep assessing opportunities to buy its own shares.

 

Shares in the company were down 1.6 percent at 53.93 pounds at 0940 GMT on Monday, compared with a decline of 1.2 percent in the benchmark CASE 30 index.

 

Orange brings iPhone to Jordan and Egypt (From itp.net, May 17, 2008)

 

- The Middle East iPhone build up continues, with the news that French telecom operator Orange will sell the device in Jordan and Egypt.

 

In a statement released on Friday, Orange announced that it will be selling iPhone in these two countries "later this year". Orange will also sell iPhone in its African markets, which include Kenya, Niger, Senegal and Ivory Coast.

 

UK operator Vodafone has already announced that it is planning to introduce iPhone in Egypt. Apple has stuck to exclusive deals for each country where it introduced the iPhone originally, but it has now signed deals with multiple operators for several markets.

 

The new non-exclusive iPhone deals are expected to relate to sales of a new anticipated 3G iPhone model. The ‘current' 2G model is no longer available in the US and the UK.

 

Telecom Egypt says Q1 net profit drops 4.8 pct (May 15, 2008)

 

CAIRO (Reuters) - Telecom Egypt posted a net profit of 557 million Egyptian pounds ($104 million) on Thursday for the first quarter of 2008, 4.8 percent lower than in the same period last year.

 

The company, which has a monopoly on fixed-line phone service in Egypt, said total fixed-line subscribers reached 11.3 million, up 3 percent on the same period of 2007.  

 

Orascom Telecom offers to buy back 10.3pc of shares (From the Oman Daily Observer, April 18, 2008)

 

CAIRO - Egypt-based mobile phone operator Orascom Telecom (OT) Orascom Telecom (OT) said yesterday it was offering to buy back 10.3 per cent of its own shares at 83 Egyptian pounds ($15.31) a share. The offer also applies to the company's London-based GDRs, for which the price is equivalent to $76.50 at the current exchange rate, it said. Each GDR is equivalent to five ordinary shares.

 

OTOT shares jumped 8.7 per cent to a high of 81.4 pounds a share in early trading on the Egyptian stock exchange. They then slipped back to about 79.50 pounds, up 6.2 per cent. OTOT said it was offering the buyback because it had a large cash surplus and could not find attractive alternative investments. "The company feels that buying its own shares is the best way to use such amounts," it added.

 

The offer is for up to 106 million shares, giving the buyback transactions a potential cumulative value of 8.798 billion Egyptian pounds. The offer will expire on May 14 at 5 pm New York time (2100 GMT) but could be extended, the company said. Amr el Alfy, head of research at CIBC brokerage, said he thought the stock was undervalued, so a buyback was timely. CIBC gives the stock a fair value of 94 pounds a share before the buyback, excluding the company's expansion into North Korea. Taking North Korea operations into account, the price should be up to 100 pounds a share, Alfy added.

 

France Telecom, five others eye Egypt license (March 18, 2008)

 

CAIRO (Reuters) - France Telecom has expressed interest in buying Egypt's second fixed-line license, joining five Arab companies that are also interested, Egypt's telecom regulator said on Tuesday.

 

A spokesman for the National Telecom Regulatory Authority said France Telecom had bought a booklet of conditions for the sale of the telecom license on Monday.

 

The other five companies that have expressed interest are Orascom Telecom , Egypt's Alkan, Egypt's Giza Systems, Abu Dhabi-based Etisalat , and Saudi's Atheeb group, the NTRA spokesman said.

 

The telecom regulator has said it would auction the license on June 19, bringing Egypt one step closer to ending the monopoly of state-run Telecom Egypt , currently the country's sole fixed-line operator.

 

Etisalat led a group of investors that paid $2.9 billion to become Egypt's third mobile operator in 2006, with the right to offer higher-bandwidth 3G technology in the most populous Arab country.

 

Orascom Telecom refinances $2.5 billion debt facility (From Cellular News, March 3, 2008)

 

- Eygpt based, Orascom Telecom has agreed to refinance a tranch of its debt with a new US$2.5 billion five-year debt facility with 12 Egyptian and international banks. The company said that the Facility will be used to refinance the outstanding amounts under the company’s existing US$ 2.5bn jumbo facilities and for general corporate purposes.

 

Aldo Mareuse, Group Chief Financial Officer of Orascom Telecom, commented "The new facility will provide long term financing that will allow the Company to evaluate investment opportunities on a disciplined basis, or continue to return capital to its shareholder's in light of favourable relative market valuations. The committed facility provides greater financial flexibility for the continued development of our fast growing businesses and creates a simpler and more transparent capital structure".

 

The 12 banks that have committed to underwrite the facility are Banque Misr, Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, Calyon, HSBC Bank Egypt, ING Bank N.V., JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Mashreqbank psc, National Bank of Egypt, Standard Bank PLC, Standard Chartered Bank and WestLB AG.

 

Last December, Standard & Poor's Rating Services affirmed its long-term 'B+' corporate credit ratings on Orascom Telecom and related finance subsidiary Orascom Telecom Finance. The outlook was stable.

 

The affirmation followed the announcements of Orascom's sale of 100% of Iraq-based subsidiary Iraqna Company for Mobile Services (Iraqna) for $1.2 billion and its 14.2% remaining stake in Hutchison Telecommunications International, which over time will boost Orascom's liquidity, following completion and receipt of funds.

 

Telecom Egypt says sells stakes in Internet firms (February 7, 2008)

 

CAIRO (Reuters) - Telecom Egypt, Egypt's state-run fixed-line operator, said on Thursday it has agreed to sell its minority stakes in two Internet service providers to mobile phone operator Etisalat Egypt.

 

Telecom Egypt said in a statement Etisalat Egypt, a unit of of the UAE-based Emirates Telecommunications Corp ETEL.AD, will buy 27.3 percent of Nile Online and 16.5 percent of the Egyptian Company for Networks (EgyNet).

 

The company did not disclose the value of the deal, which it said would be carried out before March 31.

 

Telecom Egypt also owns TE Data, the country's biggest Internet service provider. Telecom Egypt will lose its monopoly over fixed-line telephones when the government auctions a second license in 2008. Etisalat has said it would bid for the license.

 

France Telecom inaugurates Cairo Orange Labs (January 6, 2008)

 

- Didier Lombard, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of France Telecom Orange Group inaugurated the Group's 18th Orange Labs in Cairo, in the presence of Tarek Kamel, the Egyptian Communications and Information Minister.

 

The creation of the Cairo Orange Labs allows France Telecom Group to expand its presence in Egypt, a country where France Telecom is present since 1998 through Mobinil and Orange Business Services.

 

France Telecom is the main shareholder of Mobinil, which is the first mobile operator in Egypt with more than 14 million customers. Orange Business Services, dedicated to communication services to multinational companies has 1500 engineers in Cairo and is serving approximately 150 multinational companies, as well as around 50 airlines. With the new Cairo Orange Labs, the Group now has 18 Orange Labs around the world.

 

The Cairo Orange Labs, in collaboration with the global Orange Labs network, enhances the Group's capacity to deliver innovative services to its customers, especially in the Middle East Africa region. The Cairo Orange Labs is also a unique opportunity to create partnerships with the local ecosystem.

 

The main research and development work will focus on the following subjects: development of global solutions for the Group; ergonomics for products and services on the multinational business market and the local retail market; voice services and content access in Arabic; usages and services for the region; research into local uses; network solutions set against specific economic and environmental constraints.

 

By the end of 2008, the Cairo Orange Labs will employ 50 people, with over 90% Egyptians.

 

In order to integrate this new Orange Labs into the local ecosystem, the laboratories have been set up to the west of Cairo, in the 'Smart Village' technology hub, which is home to various companies from the IT and telecoms sector as well as various public organizations (Telecommunications Ministry, National Telecommunications Institute, etc.).

back to the News Center

 

 

HOME

About HATIF | Quality Products | HATIF News | Contact Hatif | Site Map