Handset market updates

Applications will begin in January 2007 for new fixed and mobile licenses in Saudi Arabia, as announced by CITC in October. This significant move of allowing additional operators into the market, will make the country the leading liberal telecom market within the Gulf states. Licenses will be awarded for three mobile operators and two fixed.

With Mobily's entrance into the market in 2005, it seems likely that the new entrants will have a level playing field to work from, political considerations aside. The new mobile operators must cover the country's seven major cities within a year followed by 85 percent of the population within five years.

With the upcoming launch at the beginning of the year of new mobile network in the UAE "DU", and the expansion in the Saudi mobile landscape, we can see lots of fresh opportunity for handset distributors in the region. We hope you will be among the winners in '07....

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