OSLO: Norway s largest telecoms company Telenor is considering a bid for Egypt s third mobile phone license, spokesman Esben Tuman Johnsen told Reuters on Wednesday. Telenor has been aggressively expanding its network of mobile subsidiaries outside its Nordic base and already operates in eastern Europe, Russia, Ukraine, Pakistan and south-east Asia. Egypt is an interesting market with two operators today, Johnsen said. I think the market penetration was about 17 percent at the end of 2005 so the growth potential is definitely present. Vodafone Egypt and MobiNil operate Egypt s two existing mobile phone networks. They had close to 13 million subscribers at the end of December in a country with around 72 million people. It is an emerging market and sits very well with the opportunities we are looking for, Johnsen said. Last month, Telenor said it was looking at entering the Vietnamese mobile phone market. By 12:52 GMT, Telenor shares traded down 0.4 percent at 70.50 crowns, valuing the company at around 121 billion Norwegian crowns. The DJ Stoxx European telecoms index traded down 1.1 percent. Johnsen said Telenor was currently weighing up whether to make a proposal to the Egyptian government and would decide by mid-April. Kuwait s Mobile Telecommunications Co. and Emirates Telecommunications Corp. have said they will bid. Telecom Egypt, Egypt s fixed-line operator, has said it is considering a bid. On March 2, Egypt s communications minister said 17 companies had bought the prospectus for the country s third mobile phone license. Reuters
Norwegian telecom company mulls bidding for third license
