Tehran delays telecoms sale
Iran has postponed the privatisation of Telecommunications Company of Iran (TCI), the country's state-owned telecoms operator. A partial sell-off had been expected to take place in September.
The Iranian Privatisation Organisation, the government body that decides when sell-offs will take place, has told investors that state-run businesses in other sectors of the economy will be privatised before TCI.
Ramin Rabii, managing director of Turquoise Partners, a Tehran-based fund manager, says the privatisation organisation updated investors last week. 'TCI will not be privatised anytime soon,' he adds.
TCI could be one of the Islamic Republic's largest privatisations, following its rapid growth over the past nine months. The company recently overtook Saudi Telecom to become the largest mobile operator in the region by number of customers. By the end of June 2007, TCI had 17.8 million mobile customers, compared with Saudi Telecom's 15.5 million.
TCI has grown rapidly since reducing its charges in 2006 to fend off competition from the country's second mobile operator, Irancell, which started trading in October last year. Since the start of 2007, TCI has signed up 5 million customers. Irancell had 1.1 million customers by the end of March, according to its most recent figures.
Mobile operators are among the top three listed companies by market capitalisation in many Middle East countries, including Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The privatisation organisation could decide to privatise some of TCI's subsidiaries, says Rabii, including companies that have a monopoly in fixed-line telecoms services in each of Iran's provinces.
TCI also has a national fixed-line telecoms operator for business customers and a division with a monopoly on internet access services.
In February, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei launched a large-scale privatisation programme, saying that 80 per cent of state-owned businesses should be privatised in the next two to three years.
www.meed.com/telecomsit
Iran has postponed the privatisation of Telecommunications Company of Iran (TCI), the country's state-owned telecoms operator. A partial sell-off had been expected to take place in September.
The Iranian Privatisation Organisation, the government body that decides when sell-offs will take place, has told investors that state-run businesses in other sectors of the economy will be privatised before TCI. Ramin Rabii, managing director of Turquoise Partners, a Tehran-based fund manager, says the privatisation organisation updated investors last week. 'TCI will not be privatised anytime soon,' he adds. TCI could be one of the Islamic Republic's largest privatisations, following its rapid growth over the past nine months. The company recently overtook Saudi Telecom to become the largest mobile operator in the region by number of customers. By the end of June 2007, TCI had 17.8 million mobile customers, compared with Saudi Telecom's 15.5 million. TCI has grown rapidly since reducing its charges in 2006 to fend off competition from the country's second mobile operator, Irancell, which started trading in October last year. Since the start of 2007, TCI has signed up 5 million customers. Irancell had 1.1 million customers by the end of March, according to its most recent figures. Mobile operators are among the top three listed companies by market capitalisation in many Middle East countries, including Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The privatisation organisation could decide to privatise some of TCI's subsidiaries, says Rabii, including companies that have a monopoly in fixed-line telecoms services in each of Iran's provinces. TCI also has a national fixed-line telecoms operator for business customers and a division with a monopoly on internet access services. In February, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei launched a large-scale privatisation programme, saying that 80 per cent of state-owned businesses should be privatised in the next two to three years. www.meed.com/telecomsitThis content is only available to full MEED package subscribers (MEED magazine and MEED.com).
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