JEDDAH, 27 February 2008 — Atheeb-Batelco, one of the three joint stock companies that have won licenses to operate Saudi Arabia’s new landline networks, said yesterday that it would cover all the 13 regions of the Kingdom.
Prince Abdul Aziz ibn Ahmed, chairman of Atheeb Telecom Consortium, said he expected the Kingdom’s second landline to be operational by the third quarter of this year. “We are planning to provide excellent services at reasonable rates,” he said.
Atheeb, a joint venture with Bahrain’s telecom giant Batelco, plans to raise SR500 million before July selling 25 percent of its shares in an initial public offering (IPO), the prince told reporters in Jeddah.
The Council of Ministers licensed on Monday three companies — Optical Communications Company (Verizon), Al-Mutakamilah (PCCW-Hong Kong) and Atheeb — to provide land-line telephone services.
A statement issued after the Cabinet meeting said the new firms would sell 25 percent of their shares in IPOs and offer 10 percent to two state-owned funds — Pension Fund and the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI).
Prince Abdul Aziz said Atheeb would sell five percent each to the two funds. Batelco will keep 15 percent in Atheeb United, while founders Atheeb group and Nahla would share the remaining stake. Atheeb will have a paid up capital of SR1 billion and a licensed capital of SR2 billion. Optical has a capital of $300 million while Al-Mutakamilah has SR300 million.
“In the beginning we’ll focus on highly populated cities like Riyadh, Jeddah, Makkah, Madinah, Dammam, Alkhobar and Yanbu. Later on, we’ll spread to other parts of the Kingdom,” the Atheeb chief said. The company would train Saudis to carry out its projects. Preference will be given to Saudi and Bahraini workers.
“Our first goal is to provide good services in order to win the satisfaction of clients and there is no doubt that competition will lead to reducing charges and it will benefit subscribers, he said.
Atheeb plans to invest $1 billion in its fixed-line operation in the first five years of business. It also intends to roll out broadband Internet, and voice and data services using WiMAX technology.
“We have a strong team in place and we are in the final stages of preparation to roll out services to the Saudi market. Our partners, Atheeb and Nahla have very strong knowledge of the market place and we are delighted with the strong relationship we have developed,” said Peter Kaliaropoulos, CEO of Batelco.
Zuhair Ali Hassan Azhar, CEO of Optical Communications, said his consortium would provide optical services to meet the requirements of business and residential sectors within a year. Optical’s services would cover 21 cities within the first seven years, he said. Optical’s main partner Verizon has operations in six continents. Verizon is the 14th largest US company in terms of revenue and turnover.
