Thursday, 16 July 2009 at 09:39, Reuters, Amman
Mobile Telecommunications Co (Zain), Kuwait's largest mobile operator, said on Wednesday it appointed Abdel Malek Jaber as chief executive officer of its combined Jordan and Palestinian network.
Zain finalised a deal last May that secured it a 56 pct majority stake in Pal Tel Palestine Telecommunication Co (Paltel) which operates in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in a share swap that entailed no cash transactions.
Jaber, vice chairman of PalTel's board, will run Zain Levant that was set up under the share swap deal that gave Paltel shareholders ownership of Zain's wholly owned Jordanian subsidiary in return for Zain securing majority control in a combined entity.
The merger of the Jordanian operations of Zain and Paltel into one business group was expected to generate over $1 billion in annual revenues and an estimated $300 million in net income alone this year, Zain executives said.
Paltel has 1.5 million mobile telephone subscription and Zain's wholly owned Jordanian subsidiary is the largest mobile operator in the kingdom with around 2.3 million subscribers.
The Palestinian market has a low 35 percent penetration rate and offers more potential for growth.
Zain, whose biggest shareholder is Kuwait's sovereign wealth fund, is spending billions to expand and operates in 23 countries in the Middle East and Africa.
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