Sale Of Wataniya Looks More Likely
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A substantial 51% stake in Kuwait's No2 mobile operator Wataniya could be up for sale, after a group of investors led by investment firm Kuwait Projects (KIPCO) announced that it had been approached by a few interested parties. Wataniya, which was awarded the country's second national mobile operating licence, commercially launched services in 1999, and by end 2006 had a group subscriber base of 9.993mn mobile users. Further, group revenues stood at KWD428.4mn (US$1.47mn), while net profits rose by 39% y-o-y to KWD73.2mn (US$251.8mn) in 2006. In its home market, the operator has managed to claim around 45% of mobile users, indicating how well it has performed, given that market leader MTC established its operations 16 years ahead of the SNO.