Megafon Denies Receiving Iran's 3rd Mobile License
Further confusion over Iran's 3rd mobile license after Russia's MegaFon denied earlier reports that it had been awarded the contract. Although the company has previously suggested it would be interested in a license in the country, it is now saying that it has lost all such interest.
The Iranian TV channel, Press TV reported earlier this week that Megafon had been granted a license to build a mobile phone network in the country.
"MegaFon does not plan to enter the market of Iran," said Peter Lidov, PR Director of MegaFon. "We monitor opportunities to enter promising markets outside Russia but Iran is not among them", he added.
In 2008, MegaFon studied a possibility of participation in the tender for the license, which was giving right to become a mobile operator in the country. However having reviewed the tender terms and other factors related to conducting business in Iran, the company refused to participate in the tender, and stopped its work on the project to enter Iranian market.
In May, the government cancelled the 3rd mobile license award to Etisalat and said it had awarded it to Zain instead. Etisalat originally won the license in consortium with Taameen Telecom, a company owned by the Iranian Social Security Organization (SSO) that serves more than 30 million Iranians through pension funds. Etisalat has a 49% stake in the joint venture.
Last month, the Iranian government then reportedly stripped Zain of its mobile license in the country, although there was some confusion about whether the company ever had the license in the first place. However, Zain said at the time that it had only been invited to renew its negotiations as the leader of the consortium that came second in the original bid process.
It is now not clear if there are any other companies interested in picking up the license.
That Megafon cited "factors related to conducting business in Iran" as part of its reason for not wanting the license ties in with a recent decision by Indonesia's state-owned telco, PT Telekomunikasi, which recently decided not to pursue an option to buy a stake in Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI) after deciding that the risks outweighed the potential rewards.
