State opens auction for third mobile licence

The Kuwaiti government has officially opened the tender for the country’s third mobile licence. Interested parties have until the end of this month to apply to take a 26% stake in the new operator; 50% of the firm’s shares will be offered to the public, while the remaining 24% will be retained by the state. The winning bidder is expected to be announced by November. The new operator will compete against current market leader MTC-Vodafone and its rival Wataniya Telecom; these two shared more than 2.5 million customers at the end of March according to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database.