Wataniya Telecom, the mobile communications provider that brought competition to the Kuwaiti telecommunications market, has formally announced that it has joined the bid for Bahrain’s second mobile telecommunications license in a move that follows the company’s regional expansion strategy.
“The move comes directly as a result of the clear and positive signal from Bahrain’s government that it has built a world-class regulatory environment in order to build a competitive telecommunications market in the Kingdom,” according to a company press release.
With over 675,000 subscribers in Kuwait, Wataniya Telecom, which also owns 50 percent of Tunisian GSM operator Tunisiana, is a publicly traded company on the Kuwait Stock Exchange, an affiliated company of Kuwaiti Projects Company (KIPCO), a major diversified
company with interests in finance, media and entertainment and with over $10 billion of assets under its control.
Launched in December 1999, Wataniya Telecom is the second licensed GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) mobile operator in the State of Kuwait. With a market capitalization exceeding $1.5 billion, the company has been a driving force in increasing the mobile communications market penetration in Kuwait to over 54 percent of the population. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
