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STC optimistic about Lebanese market
02 April 2012
Saudi operator STC eyes mobile operating licence in Lebanon, calls for liberalisation
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STC
Saudi Arabia
Lebanon
Saudi operator STC is
targeting the Lebanese telecoms market, and considers the country ripe for
investments, according to local reports.
Ghassan Hasbani, CEO of international operations at STC, told The Daily Star: “We
realise that this is a very attractive market with a great potential. If the
[Lebanese] government’s telecommunications sector policy will allow for such an
opportunity, we would very seriously consider entering the [mobile
telecommunications] market.”
Hasbani believes
Lebanon should open up its mobile telecommunications sector to benefit from
investments from the local private sector as well as foreign direct
investments, and that liberalisation would help channelise public investments
into sectors ignored by private investors, also enhancing competitiveness in
the market, said the report.
Hasbani admitted that
the growing popularity of free text messaging and Voice over IP applications
were affecting telecoms industry revenues, giving rise to temporary concerns of
weakening conventional revenue streams, but he said the sector was adapting
accordingly by developing new revenue streams involving broadband and data
services. He also pointed out that there was greater competition in the market which
had been dominated by state-controlled monopolies.
Hasbani
expects consolidation in the Middle East, with operators merging to cut costs
and resulting in telecommunications giants, according to the report. GTB