KUWAIT CITY. Saudi Telecom, the largest Arab telecoms company by market value, has won a 26 percent stake in Kuwait’s third mobile phone company with a 248.7 million Kuwaiti dinar ($907.7 million) bid. The establishing committee responsible for the public auction announced the winning bid declaring that Kuwait Finance House submitted the second highest bid of 195.13 million dinars and Etisalat submitted the third highest bid of 180 million dinars. Nine firms and groups competed for the stake, including a partnership consisting of Bahrain Telecommunications and Kuwait’s Investment Dar. The new operator will compete with Mobile Telecommunications and National Mobile Telecommunications. Kuwait has a mobile penetration of more than 90 percent. The government is to sell another 50 percent of the company in an initial public offering open to Kuwaiti citizens only and retain 24 percent of the company. “Kuwait is very important to Saudi Telecom. We expect to take 30 percent of the market over the next ten years,” Saad Al-Duweish, chief executive officer of Saudi Telecom, said.

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