MTN Afghanistan

active

In September 2005, Telecom Regulatory Board of Afghanistan (TRBA), a unit of Ministry of Communications, awarded the third nationwide GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) license to Areeba Afghanistan. The license allowed Areeba Afghanistan to build and operate a mobile network in Afghanistan for 15 years and was renewable for another 10 years. Areeba Afghanistan was originally a wholly owned subsidiary of Lebanese Investcom LLC. In July 2006, South Africa’s MTN group completed the acquisition of Investcom LLC for US$ 5 billion. As of August 2007, Areeba Afghanistan is a wholly owned subsidiary of MTN Group. Areeba Afghanistan won the license by making the highest bid of US$ 40.1 million in an international competitive tender conducted by TRBA in August 2005. There were four other bidders – a consortium of Vodafone-Arcor of Germany and Siemens; UAE-based Warid Telecom; Luxembourg-based MillicomInternational, in partnership with Chinese vendor ZTE and the company Dayanat; and a Saudi-US consortium, including American firms CellularOne and GlobeComm and Saudi-based Al Houbi Telecom. In June 2006, IFC signed a loan agreement for US$40 million and an equity investment of up to US$5 million in Areeba Afghanistan to support the construction and operation of a nationwide cellular network. Areeba Afghanistan was expected to launch commercial services under the Areeba brand during the first half of 2006. In June 2009, IFC provided a US$65 million loan and US$10 million in equity to MTN Afghanistan to support the expansion of the company’s mobile telephone network and meet the country’s growing demand for affordable mobile phone services. In 2007 and 2011 the project received guarantees from MIGA of US$76.5 and US$80.4 millions respectively. The operator name was changed from Areeba Afghanistan to MTN Afghanistan (MTNA). With the insurance guarantee of US$76.5 million, the MTN was to US$85 million in Afghanistan's telecommunication sector in the years 2006-2007. Capex 2012 based on MTN annual report: parent capex 2012 * subscribers MTN Afghanistan 2012/ subscribers of total MTN 2012(R 189.3 million)