RIYADH, 14 July 2004 — A consortium including the UAE’s Etisalat made the highest bid to become Saudi Arabia’s second mobile phone operator yesterday, putting it on course to win the coveted license, a source told Arab News.
“Etisalat Consortium made the highest financial bid, offering SR12.21 billion, followed by the consortium including South Africa’s MTN, which offered SR11.05 billion,” the source said.
Egypt’s Orascom was third out of the six bidders, offering SR9.8 billion riyals.
The highest bidder is expected to win the license to become the second mobile operator in the lucrative Saudi market, although it has to meet a number of financial requirements and the choice has to be approved by the Saudi Cabinet.
The offers of the six bidders were opened here in the presence of representatives of the consortia and officials from the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC).
But the media were kept out despite earlier promises the ceremony would be public.
A consortium in which Prince Alwaleed ibn Talal partnered Spain’s Telefonica Moviles surprisingly made the lowest bid at SR6.7 billion. The consortium including Kuwait’s MTC was fourth, at SR9 billion, and Samawat Consortium (Telecom Italia Mobile) was fifth, at SR8.7 billion. The six consortia, each including an international operator and at least five Saudi companies, were shortlisted by the CITC after bidders including Britain’s Vodafone and France’s Bouygues were eliminated from the race at the end of the technical evaluation phase on Saturday.
The government is expected to endorse the commission’s choice, but the official said the highest bidder would also have to prove his solvency and deal with a bank approved by the CITC.
Otherwise, the commission will go for the second highest offer.
There are seven to eight million GSM subscribers served by the Saudi Telecom monopoly.
