Global Telecom Holding

Global Telecom Holding SAE
legal form	Corporation
ISIN	EGS74081C018
founding	1998
Seat	Cairo , Egypt
management	Vincenzo Nesci ( CEO )
Number of employees	11,625 (December 31, 2013)
sales	3,447,000,000 US dollars (2013)
Branch	telecommunications
Website	www.gtelecom.com

Global Telecom Holding (formerly Orascom Telecom ) is an Egyptian telecommunications company . In 1998 the group was founded by Naguib Sawiris . The listed company belonged to the Egyptian Orascom group . It is a member of the EGX 30 index on the Egyptian Exchange . The Russian telecommunications group Vimpelcom has held 51.9 percent of the shares since 2010 . The rest of the shares are in free float.

In December 2013, GTH, with its joint ventures and subsidiaries, had a total of 89.299 million customers in Algeria , Bangladesh , Burundi , Canada , Pakistan , Zimbabwe and the Central African Republic .

In 2010 the Russian Vimpelcom took over Orascom Telecom and Wind Telecomunicazioni from Weather Investments of the Egyptian entrepreneur Naguib Sawiris and merged the two companies to form Global Telecom Holding, based in Cairo. Excluded from this transaction are the activities in North Korea ( Koryolink ) and Egypt , which were transferred to Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding, which continues to be majority owned by Naguib Sawiris. The Italian activities of Wind Telecomunicazioni are directly subordinate to the parent company Vimpelcom and not part of Global Telecom Holding.

Historical logo

Mobinil - beginnings in Egypt

In 1994 Orascom took over the Egyptian Internet service provider InTouch . After the privatization of the telecommunications market in Egypt, some smaller companies were taken over. In 1998 Orascom applied for a GSM license in Egypt. Orascom then had licenses for cellular, landline and VSAT technologies.

At the beginning of 1998, the ECMS - Egyptian Company for Mobile Services consortium consisting of Orange (at that time still a subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa ), Motorola (as a manufacturer of cellular base stations) and Orascom Telecom (at that time 51 percent) received the first GSM cellular license in Egypt. In May 1998 Mobinil went to reception.

ECMS is now 36.4 percent with the Orange Group (now a subsidiary of France Télécom ), 34.6 percent with Orascom Telecom and 29.0 percent in free float.

At the beginning of March 2009, Orange announced that it wanted to take over ECMS. At the beginning of April 2009, the regulatory authority of Egypt prohibited a possible takeover. An arbitration tribunal of the International Chamber of Commerce ruled in early April 2009 that Orascom Telecom had to transfer all of its 28.75 percent stake to Orange Telecom by April 10, 2009 . Orange is paying Orascom Telecom EUR 530 million for the remaining stake.

Mobinil has over 20 million cellular customers. As of September 2008, Alex Shalaby is chairman and Hassan Kabbani is managing director of Mobinil.

Middle East + Africa

Orascom is the leading telecommunications provider in the Middle East , Africa and South Asia . He operates GSM networks in Algeria ( Djezzy GSM), Egypt ( MobiNil ), Namibia ( Leo ), Pakistan ( Mobilink ), Bangladesh ( Banglalink ), Tunisia ( Tunisiana ).

Orascom also invested in other markets, but sold the licenses and networks again for various reasons. At the end of 2005, for example, the shares in Libertis Telecom in the Republic of the Congo were sold. Orascom wanted to focus on more lucrative markets and its core business in the Middle East and the Mediterranean countries.

Iraq

In 2007, two mobile phone licenses from Orascom subsidiaries also expired. After the provisional mobile phone licenses in Iraq had expired, Orascom withdrew from the auction of the long-term licenses. Instead of an investment of 1.25 billion US dollars, they wanted to enter into a joint venture with the Kurdish license holder Korek in order to be able to continue operating the network. After the two companies could not come to an agreement, Orascom sold its company IraQna to the Kuwaiti telecommunications company MTC (now Zain) for approx. 1.2 billion US dollars. By that time, Orascom had invested approximately $ 360 million in the Iraqi GSM network.

Zimbabwe

The Portuguese mobile operator Telecel was able to acquire some GSM mobile phone licenses in Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Togo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda and the Central African Republic) at the end of the 20th century. In April 2000, 80 percent of Telecel was taken over by Orascom Telecom.

Orascom, however, had to accept a license loss at Telecel Zimbabwe : The reason for the license withdrawal was that the shareholders failed to comply with a state requirement that a maximum of 49% of the company's capital may come from abroad. Although Telecel Zimbabwe is one of the weaker investments, not only in view of the current political and economic background, Naguib Sawiris expressly committed himself to the company and requested a period of two years in order to meet the requirements. As a justification for the extension of the deadline, Orascom cites the fact that, in the current situation, the company would not transfer any profit distributions abroad anyway.

In March 2008 Telecel Zimbabwe had a market share of around 19 percent with around 244,000 customers.

Europe - Weather Investments

Sawiris now wants to expand more into the European Mediterranean region through the Weather Investments holding . Today, Sawiris has a majority stake in the mobile operator Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA in Italy (purchase price: 12.1 billion euros) and Wind Hellas in Greece. While Sawiris believes the companies have good growth opportunities, the investments are also of strategic importance.

After the construction of a sea line from Egypt to Greece and an existing connection between Greece and Italy, Orascom can use the respective networks cost-effectively. This creates a connection between Orascom's core markets of North Africa and the Middle East and the European network. Sawiris is also interested in entering the telecommunications division of Bouygues in France.

Asia

Orascom also wanted to enter the Asian mobile phone markets.

Orascom Telecom wanted to enter the wireless market in India in 2006. Therefore, in December 2005, a share of 19.3 percent in Hutchison Telecommunications International (HTIL) was taken over. Hutchison Whampoa holds the majority stake in HTIL with almost 50 percent . Orascom Telecom was able to send two directors to HTIL.

The HTIL had cellular companies in India (Hutchison Essar), Vietnam, Indonesia, Macau, Hong Kong, Israel, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Ghana. In October and November 2007, 5 percent and in December 2007 the remaining 14.3 percent of the HTIL shares were sold again, with a profit of 600 million US dollars.

Sawiris is considering entering the Chinese and Indian markets via indirect investments, as direct entry appears to be too expensive for the company at today's prices for corporate takeovers in this sector. Orascom had sold its 19.3 percent stake in Hutchison Telecommunications International Limited (HTIL) in 2007 . Orascom had hoped for a market position in India. With the sale of the Indian subsidiary by Hutchinson, however, this strategy no longer worked. Although the selling price of HTIL was about the same as the purchase price, Orascom was able to come out with a profit of approximately 600 million US dollars through a dividend distribution as part of the sale of the Indian shares.

North Korea

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is planning to set up a GSM cellular network in North Korea. The state-owned Korea Post and Telecommunications Corporation (25 percent) has therefore founded a joint venture with Orascom Telecom (75 percent) , CHEO Technology JV Co. , which received a GSM license in January 2008. The cell phone license is valid for 25 years and guarantees a GSM monopoly for the first four years. Orascom Telecom plans to invest around 400 million US dollars in the development of the cellular network in the first few years. Since mid-December 2008, the cellular network will initially work in the capital Pyongyang .

CHEO operates the Koryolink cellular network , which started with 5,300 users in December 2008. At the end of June 2009 there were already 19,200 participants.

South America

The entry into the South American market in 2007 was initially postponed when sales talks about the Telekom Italia subsidiary Brasil Telecom were broken off. Brasil Telecom has both a landline and a mobile phone network, and Telecom Italia is also represented in the country with TIM Brasil .