Syria’s telecommunication ministry has not set a new date for the financial proposal, STC said.

STC submitted its technical proposal on March 30 and financial bidding was due to close on April 27.

STC was one of five firms to qualify for the Syria licence auction, along with Qatar Telecom, Turkcell, France Telecom and UAE group Etisalat. The latter two have dropped plans to bid.

Syria, with a mobile penetration of about 30 percent in 2007, launched a tender to sell the third mobile operator licence last September. The two current cellphone operators in Syria are South African company MTN and Syriatel, mostly owned by Syrian businessman Rami Makhlouf.

STC faces increased competition from Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) and Zain Saudi in its home market.