Egyptian magnate Nagib Sawiris is reportedly negotiating the sale of his 91.6 percent controlling interest in Jordan’s largest cellular operator Fastlink to Kuwait’s Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC). MTC, which currently holds five percent of Fastlink’s shares, has reportedly offered Sawiris $420 million for the deal, reported Jordan Times.
In early 1999, Sawiris’s communications conglomerate Orascom Telecom (OT) purchased a majority stake in Pella Holding Company, the company that owns Jordan Mobile Telephone Services (JMTS). JMTS is the Jordanian private shareholding company that runs the kingdom’s first GSM network under the service name Fastlink.
In 2001, OT has increased its stake in Fastlink to a super majority ownership interest by acquiring Motorola's 26.1 percent stake. MTC now holds five percent of Fastlink’s shares, while the remaining 3.4 percent are held by a Saudi firm.
Operating since 1995, Fastlink’s subscriber base recently topped 800,000. This translates into a 70 percent market share, facing competition only from Jordan Telecom’s cellular subsidiary, MobileCom. Fastlink recorded 165.2 million Jordanian Dinar ($233 million) revenues in financial year 2001, a 69 percent hike over FY00. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
