Kamal Shehadi

Kamal Shehadi is the architect of the privatisation process for Lebanon’s two mobile phone operators. He is also one of the few people involved in the privatisation with direct experience of telecoms liberalisation in another country. Shehadi worked for Saudi Arabia’s Communications & Information Technology Commission when it awarded a mobile phone licence to Etisalat, the UAE operator. Etisalat’s successful launch in Saudi Arabia convinced Shehadi that foreign investors could improve Lebanon’s ailing state-owned operators within a similar timeframe. Shehadi acts as referee in the increasingly controversial privatisation process. He has discouraged Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh from setting a price for the telecoms operators. More than 10 companies have expressed an interest in bidding for one of the operators in the upcoming auction.

Contact - Tel: (+961) 196 4300

Gilbert Najjar

Gilbert Najjar has been the main spokesman at the Telecommunications Ministry since the end of Emile Lahoud’s term as president on 23 November left the country without a leader. Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh has continued to work at the ministry, but has followed the actions of other ministers in the anti-Syrian governing bloc by keeping a low profile to avoid further inflaming the tortuous negotiations over the new president. Najjar is an enthusiastic supporter of telecoms privatisation. He argues that a research note from Credit Suisse, published on 12 November last year, provides independent proof that each mobile phone operator is worth $3bn. Najjar says: “There is an excessive amount of cash in the region due to the value of oil, and this will play in favour of any privatisation coming out in the Middle East.”

Contact - Tel: (+961) 197 9161

Mohammed Shabib

Mohammed Shabib has been caretaker for one of the Lebanese government’s two mobile phone operators since his ultimate employer, Kuwaiti telecoms giant Zain, won a short-term management contract in 2004. Zain’s Lebanese subsidiary has become the only arm of the group to retain the MTC name after a rebranding exercise in 2007. The Lebanese government was prepared to call the company Zain-Touch, but not Zain, so the management decided to keep the MTC-Touch name. Shabib has signed up more customers than his only rival, Alfa, and kept the network running during the Israeli war with Hezbollah in the summer of 2006. MTC-Touch had 640,000 customers at the end of 2007, compared with about 550,000 at Alfa. Shabib says the firm wants to cut costs and invest in infrastructure but the Telecommunications Ministry prevents this. Zain will bid to buy the company in the privatisation.

Contact - Tel: (+961) 156 6111

Ineke Botter

Ineke Botter, chief executive officer of mobile phone network Alfa, has publicly called for the government to reduce the surcharge it adds to all mobile phone bills. At a conference in Dubai in September 2007, she said that a $20 cut in the monthly surcharge would enable Alfa and rival MTC-Touch to boost the mobile penetration rate to more than 50 per cent. Mobile penetration in Lebanon has hovered just below 30 per cent since the two companies won contracts to manage the state-owned operators in 2004. The Lebanese management contract gave Alfa control of its first mobile phone operator in the region. To date, it remains its only one. Alfa is a joint venture of Detecon Consulting, an arm of Deutsche Telekom, and Fal Holdings, a Saudi Arabian conglomerate. Alfa has yet to declare whether it will bid for one of the two licences, unlike Zain, which has committed itself to a bid.

Contact - Tel: (+961) 339 1905

Marwan Hamadeh

Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh is a controversial figure in Lebanon. He launched the privatisation process in the aftermath of the anti-Syrian coalition victory in the 2005 elections. So far, the sale has been frustrated by the opposition’s ability to bring Lebanon’s political system to a halt. Hamadeh has promised to wait until a new president is elected before he sells off the two operators. The inability of the rival political groups to agree upon a compromise candidate has left Lebanon without a leader since 23 November. In January, Hamadeh postponed the auction, scheduled for 21 February, for at least eight weeks because of the political gridlock. Lebanon’s pro-Syrian politicians despise Hamadeh, who condemned Damascus for unilaterally extending Emile Lahoud’s term as president by three years in 2004. On 1 October 2004, Hamadeh survived a car bomb that killed his driver.

Contact - Tel: (+961) 197 9161

Hassan Nasrallah

biography Hassan Nasrallah has done more than anyone to stop the government from privatising its two mobile phone operators. His latest intervention at the beginning of January was followed by the regulator’s announcement that the auction would be delayed by at least eight weeks. Since then, the Higher Privatisation Council, which is working alongside the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, has set a new date of 1 May for the auction. Nasrallah has promised to use “all means” to stop the privatisation. Alfa and MTC-Touch generate about $800m in revenue for the Lebanese government each year through the surcharge on mobile phone users. Hezbollah argues that the government needs to keep this money to avoid becoming more indebted. However, the auction will generate up to $6bn in capital that can be used to pay off debt. Receipts from sales tax will also increase as penetration rates rise.

Contact - E-mail:moqawama@moqawama.org