Etisalat takes lead in table of world's fastest-growing mobile operators

The study was published in the July issue of its Global Mobile newsletter and comes just prior to a meeting of the world's largest telcos at SEAsia Com which is taking place this week in Kuala Lumpur.

"The number of proportionate subscriptions for the top 30 listed operators ranked by Global Mobile increased from 2.19 billion in 4Q07 to 2.28 billion in 1Q08. The top 30's total subscription base jumped from 3.76 billion to 3.97 billion in 1Q08 putting the 4 billion mark in sight,"

reported Mark Newman, Informa Telecoms & Media's Chief Research Officer.

The Informa study ranked operator groups on the total number of mobile subscriptions based on their percentage ownership of mobile operators. At the head of the table was UAE-based operator Etisalat, who claimed the title of fastest-growing operator ahead of regional competitor, Zain Group, Etisalat was ranked number one having achieved an increase of 106.41% in 1Q08 compared with the previous quarter achieving a proportionate mobile subscriber base at 24.2 million across Etisalat's 16 markets in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

"At the end of 2007 Etisalat announced the acquisition of a 15.97% stake in Indonesia's Exceldomindo which has a subscriber base of around 13 million. It has also seen strong growth in its home market in the UAE as well as in Egypt and Saudi Arabia," Newman explained.

Etisalat was valued at $38.7bn and positioned as the 219th largest company in the world and the largest telco in the Middle East and Africa by the Financial Times (FT 500) at the end of the first quarter.

"The Global Mobile report clearly highlights the ongoing success of Etisalat's international expansion strategy, and shows we are on course for achieving our goal of becoming one of the largest operators in the world by 2010,"

said H.E. Mohammad Hassan Omran, Chairman of Etisalat.

"We are continuing to seek new opportunities in countries where technology penetration is low and where we see good potential for rapid and exceptional returns for our shareholders and investment partners," he added.

Zain Group was pushed into second place in the quarter, with proportionate subscribers growing 70.31% during the period to 32.9 million. SK Telecom held onto third place with a 64.2% annual increase in proportionate subs ending the quarter with 36 million. Its emerging market holdings in Mongolia (28.5% ownership in Skytel), Vietnam (77.3% in S-Telecom) and China (6.6% in Unicom) and its holdings in North America (78% in EarthLink and at home all helped SKT increase its total subscription count to 193 million at end-1Q08. Operators with a heavy focus on emerging markets continue to reap the benefits of high growth rates with SingTel, Telecom Malaysia, Telekom Austria, MTN and Vodafone (which moved into the top 10 in 2008) seeing annual growth rates of over 40% in their proportionate bases in 1Q08.