Etisalat, which walked away from Zain in March, said it has no interest in a fresh bid.

“We have put Zain behind us. It’s over,” Jamal Al-Jarwan, Etisalat’s chief international investments officer, said at a telecoms conference.

Etisalat cited Zain’s divided board, extended due diligence and regional unrest for dropping its bid.

Jarwan said Etisalat is eyeing foreign expansion but opportunities were scarce.

Etisalat has been keen to move outside its home market as competition intensifies for the one-time monopoly.

“We are in acquisition mode, given that the opportunity is correct, adds value and creates synergies with other operations, but there’s nothing much left,” he said.

Jarwan said Etisalat may bid for Zain’s assets at some stage.

“I don’t see this coming in the near future. We will have to see what happens. It could be viable ... they have good assets,” he said.

Zain sold its African assets this year but still operates in high-growth Middle Eastern markets such as Iraq and Lebanon, among others.

As part of its offer, Etisalat had required Zain to sell its Saudi operations to avoid overlap with its own operations in the kingdom.

That deal is still going ahead with Kingdom Holdings and Bahrain Telecommunications buying Zain Saudi.