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29 March 2024

Etisalat takes over Sudan telco

Published
By Agencies

 

The UAE’s Etisalat, the second-biggest Arab telecom firm by market value, said on Monday it had raised its stake in Sudan's Canar Telecommunications Co Ltd to 82 per cent.

 

Etisalat, which operates in 16 countries, did not say how much it paid for the additional 45 per cent in Canar in a statement on the Abu Dhabi bourse website.

 

Like other Gulf Arab telecom firms, Etisalat has been hunting for foreign assets as it faces growing competition in its home market, where its monopoly was broken by du last February.

 

It has been focusing its expansion on Africa because the continent has opportunities for growth, Chief Executive of Etisalat International Investments Jamal al-Jarwan said in September.

 

Chairman Mohammad Hassan Omran told Reuters in an interview in November the company was considering new investments of up to $5 billion in Africa.

 

In October, Etisalat took over Tanzania's fourth operator Zanzibar Telecom Ltd and last month the company said it would buy a 16 per cent stake in PT Excelcomindo Pratama for $438 million to enter Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country.

 

The firm's shares, up 49.6 per cent last year, dropped 0.21 per cent in trading on Monday. (Reuters)