Etisalat sees fewer investement opportunities for the Telco giant after its bid for Morocco’s Meditel did not come to fruition.
According to TMCnet.com, Etisalat had said it was interested in acquiring a stake in Meditel, Morocco’s second-biggest telecoms operator, but France Telecom last week signed a deal to take a 40 per cent share for €640 million ($840m).
“After the Meditel deal, I believe investment opportunities in Morocco have shrunk compared to the past, especially as the three Moroccan telecom operators now have strategic partners,” a Moroccan weekly quoted Etisalat First Deputy Chairman Ahmed Ben Ali as saying.
Etisalat operates in 18 countries across Asia, the Middle East and Africa, servicing over 100m customers out of a total population of approximately 1.9bn people.
In 2009, Etisalat reported annual Net Revenues of AED 30.831billion and Net Profits of AED 8.836 billion marking a 5% and 16% increase respectively, compared to 2008.
Meditel competes in the Moroccan market with former monopoly Maroc Telecom, in which French group Vivendi owns a majority stake, and with Wana, in which Kuwaiti telecoms firm Zain has a minority share.
