جوردان تايمز -

Bahrain Telecommunications Company (Batelco) announced on Wednesday that it has completed the purchase of 96 per cent of Umniah Mobile Communications (UMC) for a total price of $415 million.

Umniah’s managing partner Michael Dagher and Batelco’s Chairman Hassan Ali Juma signed the agreement on June 24 in Amman and the deal was legally completed on June 28.

Batelco now controls the stake of UMC’s founding partners Dagher and Fouad Al Ghanem and Sons Group as well as Global Investment House besides all related management contracts associated with the operation of Umniah. The remaining four per cent were allocated for the Underprivileged University Student Support Fund in Jordan.

With the management and staff at Umniah staying on their jobs, Batelco plans to operate Umniah under its current name independently from its fixed-line business which is trading under the brand name Batelco Jordan.

Juma said Wednesday during a press conference: “The acquisition of Umniah will provide significant profitable growth for Batelco in the expanding Jordanian market and will boost the company’s strategic long-term plans.”

“Batelco seeks to be a significant integrated telecommunications operator in Jordan offering customers innovation, better value and choice for fixed and wireless solutions,” he added.

Stressing that the telecommunications market in Jordan is promising, Juma noted that the purchase of Umniah came after thorough studies of all the economic and financial factors in the country.

Dagher, who will continue to manage Umniah as CEO until year end, said the company will benefit from Batelco’s expertise and will be able to expand regionally.

“The sale of Umniah illustrates the valuable trust accorded to the investment atmosphere in Jordan and affirms once again the country’s ability to attract foreign investments,” he added. Underlining the success of Umniah in the telecommunications sector, Dagher elaborated: “Umniah was capable of tapping into the Jordanian market and creating a substantial market share in a very short time. We committed ourselves to achieve a market share of 10 per cent by year-end 2006. Umniah’s current market share is 13 per cent.”

“Umniah was a driving force in changing market dynamics as Jordan’s market penetration today exceeds 60 per cent and total market subscribers currently exceed 3.2 million. This has been accomplished in less than a year from our launch,” Dagher indicated.

According to Dagher, Umniah has created more than 450 direct jobs and more than 3,000 indirect jobs. “It has been an influential driving force in telecom pricing structures, and has been a source of serious economic development in the Kingdom,” he said.

Batelco Chief Executive Peter Kaliaropoulos stressed that there is a great potential for growth in the telecommunications sector in the Jordanian market, saying: “Our goal is to become number two in the Jordanian market within two to three years.”

Referring to members of Parliament who signed a petition early this month calling on the government to halt the sale of Umniah to Batelco, Dagher saw no impediments as the sale process went through legal procedures and it is already completed.

Umniah is the latest mobile operator in Jordan offering nationwide coverage with over 460 base stations across the country and more than 500,000 subscribers.

With significant operations in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Egypt, the Batelco Group provides voice and data services over fixed, wireless and Internet platforms, systems integration and enterprise solutions to government and corporate clients. Batelco’s specialised services cover the full spectrum of telecommunications solutions for residential and business customers and spans a comprehensive array of mobile services, international roaming, high speed Internet connections, among others. Batelco has a total capitalisation of some $ 2.7 billion.