The purchase of a majority stake in Maltacom is not the end but the beginning of what will be a successful future for the local telecommunications company, Tecom Investments chairman Ahmed Bin Byat said yesterday.
Speaking after the signing of an agreement between Tecom and the government of Malta, Mr Byat said that a detailed strategy for the company had already been laid out and this investment fitted in perfectly with Tecom’s global plan.
“We are very happy to be here in Malta and look forward to getting down to work,” he added.
The final purchase price was quoted at e220 million (Lm94,446,000) or e3.619 (Lm1.554) per share. At the close of business yesterday, Maltacom shares were trading at e4.52 (Lm1.94) per share on the Malta Stock Exchange.
Investments, Industry and IT Minister Austin Gatt said the sale of Maltacom achieved two important goals; the continuation of the government’s privatisation strategy and the teaming up with a strategic partner who will enable the company to grow into the international market.
He said that “in one fell swoop”, all Maltacom’s employees had now been transferred from the public to the private sector. The minister said that Tecom was an important international player who will look beyond financial investment and will be working towards the goal of making Malta the first quadruple play operator in the region.
Minister Gatt said that Tecom were “firm but fair” negotiators and he also thanked outgoing chairman Sonny Portelli and the three government appointed directors whose appointment expired with the signing of the agreement.
Tecom Investments Project Manager, Nikhil Patil took journalists through a detailed presentation of the group’s strategy for Maltacom. He said that Tecom and Dubai Investments were “gung-ho” on their goal to make Dubai a first class, state of the art ICT destination.
Mr Patil explained that the group currently employs 20,000 employees in various sectors including property, real estate, finance and the hospitality business. Tecom Investments operates telecoms, media and energy and employs dedicated professionals that have at least 10 years of high-level experience.
Mr Patil said the group had embarked on a shared series of important acquisitions including Tunisia Telecom which currently has 3.2 million mobile subscribers and 1.2 million fixed line subscribers. He said the investment of $300 million in Smartcity@Malta fitted in perfectly with Tecom’s acquisition of Maltacom because it created the requested ICT clusters that will eventually lead to demand for quadruple play services.
Among Tecom’s visions for Maltacom, Mr Patil said that in the next five years, the company expected to roll out 3G services, rationalise its fixed line business and eventually create the region’s first quadruple play network where four services would eventually be rolled out and included in one bill.
Tecom first launched its telecom operations in 2000 with what was the regions first commercial deployment of converged services over a single IP network, offering a range of corporate and residential services, including IP triple play (TV, telephony and broadband internet).
Tecom recently announced the acquisition of a 35 per cent stake in Tunisia Telecom. Tecom’s other telecom investments include Axiom, the largest mobile distributor in the Middle East, and Interoute, a next generation IP network connecting most countries in Europe.