Orascom wins first N Korea mobile licence

MOBILE PIONEER: Orascom plans to cover capital Pyongyang and other major cities during the first 12 months of operations.

Orascom Telecom, the fourth-biggest Arab mobile phone operator by market value, said on Wednesday it has won the first mobile phone licence in North Korea.

The Cairo-based group said in a statement the licence was granted to its subsidiary CHEO Technology, in which the North Korean government also owns 25%.

The statement said OT plans to invest $400 million on infrastructure and licence fees over the next three years. It said the licence duration was for 25 years, with an exclusivity period of four years.

"We are continuing to head in the right strategic direction; our Greenfield licence in the DPRK (Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea) is in line with our strategy to penetrate countries with high population and low penetration", the statement quoted OT Chairman and billionaire Naguib Sawiris as saying.

OT said it plans to cover the capital, Pyongyang, and other major cities during the first 12 months of operations. The group has operations in Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

Shares in the group rose 2.5% to 82.52 Egyptian pounds ($14.85) before the announcement. Traders at the time had attributed the rise in the share price to market speculation OT was planning an acquisition in South, rather than North, Korea. (Reuters)

Print | Email | Discuss this article

| Share |

READERS' COMMENTS

Click here to post a comment

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic. Arabian Business would like to point out that only comments relevant to the story will be published. Any containing personal insults or inappropriate language will not be approved.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Enter the words above *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM