Etisalat interested in buying Wataniya stake

Reports in the Khaleej Times suggest that the UAE’s dominant telecoms services provider Etisalat may be looking to buy a stake in Kuwait’s second largest mobile operator Wataniya Telecom. As well as its home market, Wataniya has operations in Tunisia, Iraq, Algeria, the Maldives and Saudi Arabia, and also holds the second mobile licence in Palestine – issued in September 2006. A move to acquire an equity interest in Wataniya would help Etisalat achieve its strategic plan of consolidating its regional dominance.