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Telecoms

Telecoms news from the Middle East. All the important stories, exclusive interviews, plus authoritative opinion and analysis

Profits and revenues at telecom provider STC rose in Q1

Q1 profits and revenue up for Saudi Telecom Company

Profits at Saudi Telecom Company (STC) rose in the first quarter of this year, pushing the share price of the kingdom’s biggest telecoms operator to a yearly high. Net profit rose 11 percent year on year to SAR3.6 billion ($973 million) in the first three months of 2025. Revenues for the quarter rose 2 percent […]

Regional investors may favour investments such as utilities and telecom companies with domestic operations

Market volatility adds allure to utilities and telecoms

In a month of wild market swings, Gulf equity investors have felt panic, trepidation, bewilderment and more. With further volatility probable, experts say a prudent strategy is to focus on defensive sectors less exposed to the global economy. Gulf bourses tumbled in early April, along with the US dollar and oil prices, after President Donald […]

Omantel revenues rose as the number of 'Internet of Things' smart home devices increased

Surge in connected devices spurs Omantel revenue growth

Omantel, Oman’s largest telecommunications provider, reported a rise in revenue and profitability last year, helped by a strong surge in “Internet of Things” (IoT) subscriptions Revenue at the state-controlled telco rose 4 percent year on year in 2024 to OR920 million ($2.4 billion), driven by strong performance across its business lines.  The company recorded significant […]

A woman assembles mobile phone parts at a factory run by Egyptian brand Sico. Foreign manufacturers including Samsung and Nokia have set up in Egypt

Egypt to disable imported phones unless users pay tax

Owners of imported mobile phones in Egypt will have their devices disabled next week unless they pay tax as part of a drive by Cairo to protect international phone producers operating in Egypt. When the most populous Arab nation invited South Korea’s Samsung and other major smartphone manufacturers to produce their devices in Egypt four […]

Young ladies walk out of the Bab Bou Jeloud also known as the Blue Gate which is one entrance of the medina of Fes el-Bali in Morocco on the February 17 2025. The door is blue on the outside or west but green on the other side. Des jeunes filles sortent de la Bab Bou Jeloud egalement connue sous le nom de Porte Bleue qui delimite la medina de Fes el-Bali au Maroc le 17 fevrier 2025. La porte est bleue sur l exterieur soit l ouest mais verte sur l autre versant.

UAE-run Maroc Telecom ends dispute with rival operator Inwi

UAE-controlled Maroc Telecom and Inwi, a domestic rival owned by Morocco’s royal family, have settled a long-running dispute and agreed to launch two joint ventures to expand and upgrade the kingdom’s telecom networks. The surprise détente is a significant breakthrough for Maroc Telecom, which has succeeded in reducing the compensation it owed Inwi and fixes […]

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk at a Starlink internet service launching ceremony in Indonesia in 2024

Elon Musk’s Starlink starts operations in Oman

Oman’s telecom authority has permitted Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service to start retail and commercial operations. The service will cover all regions of Oman, including remote and challenging terrains, offering speeds of up to 100 Mbps, state-run Oman News Agency reported, citing a statement from the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA). Starlink Muscat was given […]

Du’s shares are up 8.3% this year, outperforming Dubai’s index, which is down 0.6%

Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala considers selling stake in du

Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Mubadala may sell its stake in du, the UAE’s second-largest telecom operator by subscribers, which if added to the free float would boost the stock’s chances of being included in emerging market indexes. Admittance to the MSCI and FTSE emerging market benchmarks means that exchange-traded funds which track these measures must […]

Omantel's market share fell five percentage points  in 2024 to 48 percent of subscribers in the country, hurting profits

Profits fall as Omantel loses subscribers to rivals

Profits have fallen at Oman Telecommunications Company after it lost market share to competitors. Omantel, Oman’s largest telecommunications provider, said net profit was down 3 percent last year to $795 million.   Market share fell five percentage points in 2024 to 48 percent of a total of  7.1 million subscribers in the country, down from 53 […]

A woman uses her smartphone. Analysts say the real challenge for Gulf telecoms operators is not 6G, but getting more from 5G

Gulf’s push for 6G networks comes too soon, say telecoms experts

Gulf plans to develop sixth-generation networks may be premature given the region’s data use and the lack of an immediate need for ultra-fast 6G, say telecoms experts. Although 5G networks are still being rolled out across the region, the UAE is targeting the start of 6G services before 2030. Saudi Arabia has begun laying the […]

The Mobile World Congress was held in Barcelona earlier this month

Abu Dhabi’s Thuraya enters satellite smartphone market

Thuraya Mobile Satellite Communications Company, a unit of Abu Dhabi’s Space42, is moving into the smartphone market, hoping to access a global satellite-capable smartphone business that could be worth as much as $15 billion within a decade. Led by the emirate of Abu Dhabi, the UAE federation is investing in its capabilities in space. Combined, […]

STC to pay special 2024 dividend as profit grows

Saudi Telecom Company (STC), which trades on the Saudi stock exchange, has recommended a special dividend payout of nearly SAR10 billion ($2.7 billion) for 2024. That is over and above its fourth-quarter 2024 dividend of almost SAR3 billion. The special dividend announcement follows a near doubling in STC’s 2024 net profit to SAR25 billion. Revenue rose […]

Computer, Electronics, Hardware

UAE telco e& earns $1bn from Khazna stake sale

UAE telecommunications company e&, formerly known as Etisalat, will divest its 40 percent stake in Khazna Data Center Holdings for AED8 billion ($2.2 billion) to Abu Dhabi technology group G42, the telco said in a statement to the Abu Dhabi bourse on Tuesday. The deal will generate a capital gain of AED5.1 billion ($1.4 billion) before federal […]

Authorities introduced regulations in August 2024, restricting telemarketing hours to 9am to 6pm

Dubai fines companies millions for telemarketing violations

Dubai has slapped a total of AED8 million ($2 million) in fines on 159 companies for breaching new telemarketing rules, in the emirate’s first crackdown on nuisance calls. Authorities introduced the regulations in August 2024, barring companies from calling numbers on the national “Do Not Call Registry” and restricting telemarketing hours to 9am to 6pm.  […]

Subsea cables get damaged 'all the time' but Red Sea disruptions made repairs challenging

Red Sea attacks put security spotlight on vital subsea cables

What do Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, a new data centre in Saudi Arabia and the icy waters of the Baltic Sea have in common? In short, they reflect a new Gulf Arab, and indeed global, focus on protecting vital submarine cable networks and potentially developing alternative, terrestrial routes. The Yemeni militia’s […]

The acquisition will allow e& PPF Telecom to combine SBB with its Serbian mobile subsidiary Yettel

UAE’s e& agrees to buy Serbia’s broadband operator

UAE telecommunications company e&, formerly Etisalat, has agreed to acquire 100 percent of SBB d.o.o. Serbia (SBB), a cable television and broadband internet service company, for €825 million ($854 million). The deal will allow e& PPF Telecom to combine SBB with its Serbian mobile subsidiary Yettel, offering mobile, fixed broadband and pay-TV services. The acquisition will […]

Ooredoo GCC network

Ooredoo to build high-speed data network for GCC

Qatari telelcoms company Ooredoo Group has signed an agreement with French company Alcatel Submarine Networks to build a new submarine cable and fibre network connecting seven countries in the region.  The project, called Gulf in Fibre, will connect the six GCC countries — Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman — and Iraq […]

Modern arab housewife typing card number on laptop, banking online, purchase

STC digital banking given go-ahead to open in Saudi Arabia

STC Bank, a digital lender launched by Saudi Arabia’s biggest telecoms company, will commence operations in Saudi Arabia after receiving authorisation from the Saudi Central Bank (Sama). In an announcement published on the Saudi Exchange on Wednesday morning, STC Group (Saudi Telecoms Company) said that STC Bank’s launch “represents a significant milestone in the kingdom’s […]

Machine, Wheel, Electrical Device

Saudi Arabia’s STC to build $9bn telecom network

Saudi Telecom Company (STC) has won a SAR32.64 billion ($8.7 billion) contract to develop a new telecommunications infrastructure in Saudi Arabia. The contract was awarded by an “unknown” government entity, the Saudi-listed telco said in a bourse filing on Tuesday. The contract includes building, operating and providing telecommunications infrastructure services. The work will be completed […]

Terminal, Architecture, Building

STC seeks board seat after raising Telefónica stake

Saudi Arabia’s STC Group is seeking a board seat in Spain’s Telefónica after increasing its stake in the telco to 9.97 percent. Discussions will be held to secure a seat on the 15-member board, the Spanish company said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.  In November 2024, STC, which is backed […]

People in Singapore using their mobile phones. Phone tower company EdgePoint is planning to expand throughout Southeast Asia

Adia-backed EdgePoint to build 5,000 towers

Southeast Asian mobile phone tower company EdgePoint Infrastructure plans to add at least 5,000 towers in the next two to three years.  The Singapore-based company, backed by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia), is planning to expand in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, where it already has a presence, and enter new markets such as […]

UAE astronaut Sultan Alneyadi pictured in 2023 in the International Space Station's viewing cupola

How the UAE can make its push into space pay off

Two years ago, the UAE’s Rashid Rover crashed into the moon’s Atlas crater during an attempted landing, marking an abrupt end to the country’s first mission to the moon’s surface. Now, back on Earth, the UAE is once again seeking to stake its claim as part of an elite club of countries with business to […]