“Growth prospects in the Gulf countries are much lower than growth pros-pects in Africa and in India. So in terms of potential return on investments, one dollar invested in India or in Africa will probably yield higher return than those invested in the Gulf,” Alvarez says. Since access to capital markets is not easy, all-equity acquisition is the only option, which isn’t as good from a returns perspective. “Don’t forget that there are government interests in some of these companies, which makes the whole acquisition game much more complicated,” Alvarez says.
The industry is indeed feeling the pinch of the global downturn, but is well placed to wriggle out of it. For that to happen, Gulf telcos must achieve synergies, pool their organizational structure and enhance the efficiency of their operations. This is sure to be a year of looking inward.

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