News / National
MTN kicked out of Syria?
1 hr ago |
94 Views
Syria has launched an international tender for a new mobile network operator licence to replace MTN Syria, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology announced on Wednesday.
The new 20-year licence paves the way for the formal exit of South Africa's MTN Group, which owns 75% of MTN Syria and abandoned operations in the country in 2021.
The ministry formally opened the competitive bidding process at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The tender will run until June 15. Under the proposed structure, the winning operator will take a 75% stake in the local business, while Syria's sovereign fund will retain the remaining 25%.
In a separate statement, MTN confirmed that its Group CEO, Ralph Mupita, met Syria's Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Abdulsalam Haykal, on the sidelines of the conference. Both parties agreed that MTN's exit would be implemented "imminently." However, neither side clarified whether MTN would receive compensation for its majority stake.
MTN had announced in 2020 that it would sell its 75% stake in MTN Syria to minority shareholder TeleInvest for US$65 million. The transaction was never finalised, and the company withdrew from the Syrian market in 2021, citing regulatory actions and demands that made its continued presence "untenable."
A court in Damascus had previously placed MTN Syria under guardianship over alleged breaches of licence obligations that authorities said resulted in lost state revenue. MTN denied the allegations and later booked a 4.7 billion rand (US$287 million) loss related to the deconsolidation of the subsidiary.
Africa's largest mobile operator by subscribers has been scaling back its Middle East footprint as part of a strategy to focus on its core African markets. It has already exited operations in Yemen and Afghanistan and is still seeking to divest its 49% stake in Iran, though that process has been delayed by US sanctions.
The new 20-year licence paves the way for the formal exit of South Africa's MTN Group, which owns 75% of MTN Syria and abandoned operations in the country in 2021.
The ministry formally opened the competitive bidding process at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The tender will run until June 15. Under the proposed structure, the winning operator will take a 75% stake in the local business, while Syria's sovereign fund will retain the remaining 25%.
In a separate statement, MTN confirmed that its Group CEO, Ralph Mupita, met Syria's Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Abdulsalam Haykal, on the sidelines of the conference. Both parties agreed that MTN's exit would be implemented "imminently." However, neither side clarified whether MTN would receive compensation for its majority stake.
MTN had announced in 2020 that it would sell its 75% stake in MTN Syria to minority shareholder TeleInvest for US$65 million. The transaction was never finalised, and the company withdrew from the Syrian market in 2021, citing regulatory actions and demands that made its continued presence "untenable."
A court in Damascus had previously placed MTN Syria under guardianship over alleged breaches of licence obligations that authorities said resulted in lost state revenue. MTN denied the allegations and later booked a 4.7 billion rand (US$287 million) loss related to the deconsolidation of the subsidiary.
Africa's largest mobile operator by subscribers has been scaling back its Middle East footprint as part of a strategy to focus on its core African markets. It has already exited operations in Yemen and Afghanistan and is still seeking to divest its 49% stake in Iran, though that process has been delayed by US sanctions.
Source - Reuters
Join the discussion
Loading comments…
