LONDON-The Middle East wireless sector continues to show positive signs, with several major contracts awarded and plenty of healthy GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) activity over the past year. In addition, carriers have begun to sign on with new mobile satellite services (MSS) providers to expand their coverage across the region.
Egypt has led the way with both of its new private operators, Misrfone and MobiNil, now offering services in the country’s major cities. Demand for mobile services has led both these operators to issue contracts to carry out expansion work on their existing networks.
Misrfone, operating as Click GSM, began service in late November last year, but already has had to begin expanding its network more quickly to cope with the mounting subscribers.
Egypt isn’t the only country in the region that has been displaying an appetite for mobile services. According to the Telecommunications Company of Iran (TCI), growing demand for GSM services has led it to upgrade and expand its network. TCI said its subscriber numbers were set to top the 300,000 mark at the end of 1998.
Morocco is about to embark on the road to privatized mobile services. Morocco’s telecommunications regulatory body, the Agence Nationale de Reglementation des Telecommunications (ANRT), is issuing a tender for a second GSM license in the country. As of late December, ANRT said 15 foreign firms had shown interest in the license, including France Telecom; Germany’s Deutsche Telekom; and AirTouch Communications Inc., GTE Corp. and Motorola Inc. of the United States.
Palestine Telecommunications Co. P.L.C. now has joined in the Middle East GSM community, having issued a contract valued at more than US$40 million to L.M. Ericsson for a turnkey GSM network. The network reportedly will provide enough capacity to support around 100,000 mobile phone users in the first stage.
Mobile satellite services
The popularity of GSM in the Middle East has led most of the region’s major operators to sign up with one or more of the MSS providers as a means of offering their customers additional coverage and facilities.
“The Middle East is a huge potential market for ICO services, and we will be striving for many more roaming agreements, on a non-exclusive basis, and are ready to work with any cellular operator,” said Mohammed Youssif, regional general manager for ICO Global Communications.
United Arab Emirates’ Etisalat signed an agreement with ICO under which Etisalat will have exclusive rights to distribute ICO mobile satellite services in the UAE. In addition to allowing Etisalat to market and distribute ICO products, including handsets, within the UAE, the deal includes a provision for Etisalat to ensure ICO products and services comply with the UAE’s regulatory requirements. Etisalat already has invested US$140 million in ICO, and the UAE will be the site of one of 12 satellite access nodes for the ICO system.
Kuwaiti mobile operator Mobile Telecommunications Co. also has joined the list of ICO’s roaming partners in the Middle East.
In addition to these partnerships, ICO has signed a distribution deal with the Pakistan Telecommunications Co. (PTC) under which the Pakistani operator will have exclusive distribution rights for ICO services in Pakistan. Under the agreement, a business subsidiary of PTC will distribute ICO satellite services and dual-mode handsets using local agents and retail outlets.
Although there has been significant investment in Pakistan’s telecommunications infrastructure over the past year, teledensity remains low and existing cellular networks do not provide countrywide coverage. The PTC hopes satellite services from ICO will help fill these gaps.
“Pakistan is a major market for ICO services, and this agreement comes at a critical time,” said Olof Lundberg, ICO chief executive officer. “Pakistan will be heavily involved in system integration and operational testing once ICO’s first satellite is launched.”
ICO has signed similar deals with telephone companies in Bahrain, Libya and Oman.
Iridium L.L.C. also has benefited from the region’s growing mobile services sector. Iridium Middle East announced it now has signed partnership agreements with telecommunications operators in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan and Yemen.
