MANAMA, 13 May 2008 — Batelco (Bahrain Telecommunications Company) is set to invest $1 billion in Saudi market as part of a strategy aimed at enhancing the revenues of the company from overseas operations. The company is also seeking permission for an IPO and intends to list 25 percent of its shares on the Saudi bourse, a top official at Batleco has revealed.
Peter Kaliaropoulos, CEO of Batelco, said during quarterly media briefing held at company’s headquarters in Hamala, that the move to invest overseas including Saudi Arabia would help the company achieve an ambitious target of 80 percent revenue stream from the overseas operations over the next five years. He said that the company would roll out products and services in Saudi Arabia from July.
Kaliaropoulos said that Batelco has initially committed to invest $350 million and that would be increased to $1 billion upon completion of the project.
Talking about overseas operations and success of the company abroad he said: “Batelco’s success story overseas continues. The mobile subscriber base across the group has risen to 3.5 million out of which 704,000 are in Bahrain.
As part of the Etihad Atheeb consortium Batelco staff based in Saudi Arabia are currently going full steam ahead to ensure the delivery of wireless broadband, data solutions and voice services by the end of Q4 this year, said Kaliaropoulos.