MTNL, Airtel & RCOM may bid for Qatar licence

NEW DELHI: Indian telecom majors Reliance Communications and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) and Bharti Airtel may bid for the second mobile network operator licence in Qatar. All three companies recently lost the race for acquiring a the second mobile licence in Saudi Arabia.

On Monday, the Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology (ictQATAR) launched the selection process for awarding the second mobile network operator licence. The pre-qualification phase ends on May 27, 2007. The winner will have to compete with incumbent Qatar Telecom (Qtel).

“We are definitely looking at Qatar. As we cannot expand in India, we have to look for opportunities abroad,” the PSU’s CMD RSP Sinha told ET. Reliance Communication sources said that the company was examining the issue and may place a bid for the Qatar licence. On the other hand, Bharti sources did not comment if the company would bid for Qatar’s second license.

International media has quoted ictQATAR Secretary General Dr Hessa Al-Jaber saying: “We recently concluded an initial consultation period on the licensing process. We were delighted with the response from companies from around the world – numerous operators expressed interest in business opportunities here.” The license is expected to be awarded by 2007-end.

All three Indian companies have a history of bidding for licences abroad, although their record on this front is mixed. MTNL, which had recently lost the bid to acquire both mobile and fixed-line license in Saudi Arabia and for Kenyan’s second national licence also offers services in Nepal and Mauritius.

Reliance communications lost its bid for mobile licences in Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Egypt, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, in addition to losing the race to bag a fixedline license in Bahrain.

Bharti has recently bagged the licence to become Sri Lanka’s fifth GSM-based operator. The company, which lost out in Kenya, Bhutan and Saudi Arabia, also offers comprehensive telecom services in Seychelles under the Airtel brand since 1998 and has also been awarded licenses to operate 2G and 3G services in Jersey and Guernsey in Europe.

joji.philip@timesgroup.com