Saudi Arabia grants Zain Saudi a unified telecom’s license

Riyadh: Saudi Arabia will take 5 per cent of the annual net income of Mobile Telecommunication Co, a unit of Kuwait’s Zain, after granting the company its first unified telecommunications licence to operate in the kingdom.

The government ordered the country’s telecommunication regulator to issue a 15 year unified license to the company, known as Zain Saudi, the Capital Market Authority said in a statement on the Saudi stock exchange on Sunday. The government will be entitled to a percentage of the company’s annual profit for the duration of the licence, the regulatory said.

The government extended the same offer to Saudi Telecom Co, Etihad Etisalat Co and Etihad Atheeb Telecommunications Co, the regulator said in the statement. Saudi Telecom was the only carrier with a unified licence, which allowed the company to provide mobile phone, land line and internet services. The shares of the four companies were suspended on the Saudi stock exchange until they issue statements on how this will impact their operations.

“Now, all the telecoms providers can have the same license as STC and probably without any additional cost,” said Mohammad Al Suwayed, the Riyadh-based head of capital and money markets at Adeem Capital.