Syria Opens International Tender For Third Mobile Licence While MTN Advances Exit From Local Market

The new licence paves the way for the formal exit of South Africa's MTN Group after the mobile operator abandoned its operations in Syria in 2021. MTN owns 75% of MTN Syria.

The ministry formally opened a competitive bidding process that will run until June 15 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The winning operator, under a 20-year licence, will take a 75% stake in the local business, while Syria's sovereign fund will hold the remaining 25%, the ministry said.

In a separate statement, MTN said its group CEO Ralph Mupita met Syria's Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Abdulsalam Haykal, on the sidelines of the conference, where both sides agreed on the company's exit, indicating plans to implement it "imminently".

Neither party clarified whether MTN would be paid for its 75% stake.

MTN announced in 2020 that it was selling its 75% stake in MTN Syria to minority shareholder TeleInvest for $65 million. But the deal never closed, and the operator abandoned the operation in 2021, citing regulatory actions and demands that made its continued presence "untenable".

A court in Damascus had placed MTN Syria under guardianship over alleged breaches of its licence obligations that the state said deprived it of revenue. MTN denied those accusations.

It booked a R4.7bn ($287m) loss on the "deconsolidation" of the subsidiary.

Africa's largest mobile operator by subscribers has largely withdrawn from the Middle East, as part of a strategy to focus on its African operations. It has sold its operations in Yemen and Afghanistan, while it is still seeking to divest its 49% stake in Iran but has been delayed by US sanctions.