Trowers & Hamlins

The open bid for the integrated fixed public telecom license was the latest in a series of steps toward the liberalisation of the Omani telecoms sector and it brings an end to the current monopoly of the incumbent company Omantel in the fixed-line telecom sector.

The project is expected to stimulate growth in the Omani fixed-line market, which at the moment has a penetration level of only 10%.

The Nawras Consortium was formed as a joint venture between Omani Qatari Telecommunications Company, which operates under the brand name Nawras and is the second mobile operator in the Sultanate of Oman,  TDC Qtel MENA Investcom, which is a joint venture between TDC Mobile International A/S whose parent company TDC has fixed and mobile operations in six countries, Qtel, which is one of the largest telecommunications operators in the Middle East and Qatar Telecom Q.S.C., one of the largest telecommunications operators in the Middle East, which has fixed and mobile operations in 14 countries.

The Trowers & Hamlins team was led by Abdullah Mutawi, partner and head of the International Telecoms team, who drew on the expertise of the firm’s telecoms regulatory and corporate lawyers from across its Bahrain, Oman and London offices.

Abdullah Mutawi was primarily assisted by senior telecoms regulatory associate Agne Makaskauite, senior corporate associate Saleem Adam and junior corporate associate Emma Oxlade with some support from other lawyers in London and Oman as well.

Trowers & Hamlins currently has the largest dedicated and specialised corporate and regulatory telecoms team present in the Middle East region.   The team has a particularly strong focus on telecommunications M&A and licence acquisition deals and advised on over US$ 10 billion of telecom M&A in 2007 alone.

Comments Abdullah Mutawi: “We are very proud to have been involved in such a significant deal for Nawras and one which has significantly added to their already rapidly expanding business and the breadth of their telecommunications services.   This builds on a long and successful relationship with the client which we have been advising since its inception.”

Other projects the Trowers & Hamlins’ Telecoms Team has advised or is advising on include:

Currently advising France Telecom (Orange) on its bid for the 3^rd mobile licence in Bahrain

• Currently advising Belgacom (Belgium) and Scarlet (Netherlands) in relation to their acquisition of a major Internet Service Provider in the MENA region
• Advising Vodafone Group plc in relation to its successful US$ 2.1 billion bid for the second mobile license in Qatar
• Advising Qtel on its acquisition of a 51% stake of the National Mobile Telecommunications Company of Kuwait (Wataniya) for a consideration of US $3.8 billion
• Advising Qtel and the Asiacell Consortium in relation to its successful US$ 1.25 bid for one of three national mobile telecom licences in Iraq
• Advising Qtel on its US$ 2.1 billion bid for the 3rd mobile licence in Egypt
• Advising Cable and Wireless plc on its US $560m disposal of a 20% stake in Bahrain Telecommunications B.S.C (Batelco) – the biggest ever telecoms deal in Bahrain
• Advising Qtel on its US$635m acquisition of significant stakes in two Asian mobile operators