According to a couple of people associated with the topic, both VOD or Vodafone Group and MNTC or Mobile Telecommunications Company of Kuwait also branded as Zain are about to get into a deal and it will help Vodafone to expand its services around the Middle part of East.
Those people have provided more information in the condition of anonymity as the discussion is confidential. According to them Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the accord covered countries will allow lesser roaming fees and will share purchasing cost of the handsets with Vodafone which is the second largest cell phone company in the world. It has also been informed that probably an announcement will be made next week.
Newbury, an England based cell phone service provider has a deal last year with about 10 Asian countries to reduce the rate of roaming and to offer better network to the users. Likewise, Vodafone is now looking forward to expand its empire in those countries where it is yet to gain presence.
It is the main aim of Vodafone to get a share of the revenue in a market that has been experiencing steady growth of mobile calling and wireless data usage. According to the analysis of Ovum the research firm based in London, shipment of smartphones in Africa and the Middle East is to become 152 million gadgets a year by the year of 2015, which is 21.7 percent of the total population in the area and way more than the amount of 36.7 million devices in 2011.
At 11.09 am London time, Vodafone has gained about 0.2 percent to 184.5 pence and up to Wednesday, total rise of the stock is 2.9 percent this annum. Yesterday, on the last day of trading in the week, Zain has contributed 1.5 percent to 700 fils in Kuwait. The overall loss for the share is 22% in comparison to the 0.6% decline of the benchmark in Stock Exchange of Kuwait.
Pressure from the investor
The shareholders of Zain missed a chance to sell their shares of the organization when ETISALAT or Emirates Telecommunications Corporation pulled out their $12 billion tender to buy the major holding in the company. In the year 2010, Zain sold the biggest percent of its African asset to Sunil Mittal and his company BHARTI or Bharti Airtel Limited.
Zain has a large presence in the Middle East and North Africa, but Vodafone has a very limited presence but majority stakes in the carriers of Qatar and Egypt. The biggest French cell phone company, France Telecom SA (FTE) is building a set of companies in the area and is creating deals which will help it to enter the market of Iraq and Morocco, its stake in the Egyptian career will also get boosted.
Vodafone was being pushed by the shareholders’ annual meeting to enlarge the acquisition process and that is why, it is thinking about making best use of its present size in the area, this is the statement made by Gerard Kleisterlee Chairman, Vodafone, for the investors in July. He also added that Vodafone was considering an unidentified carrier in Indonesia for the same purpose.
Despite all this the company is now depending more on sharing network with others in order to reduce the cost of services, especially after regulators in Europe has blocked the takeover process with one of the competitors along with its assets in Greece. Right now Vodafone is sharing part of British network with Telefonica SA (TEF) and Ireland network with Hutchinson Whampoa Ltd. (13).