Reuters: Turkcell has failed to secure a 49 percent stake in a $2 billion mobile phone deal in Iran, a deputy telecommunications minister was quoted as saying by the ISNA students news agency on Monday. Reuters
TEHRAN – Turkcell has failed to secure a 49 percent stake in a $2 billion mobile phone deal in Iran, a deputy telecommunications minister was quoted as saying by the ISNA students news agency on Monday.
“From the point of view of the ministry and the local partners, the second operatorship is finished with Turkcell,” Vafa Ghaffarian told a conference.
Turkcell had hoped to be be part of the Irancell consortium, seeking to run Iran’s second private GSM network. But many analysts feel the deal is destined for a retender.
Ghaffarian said Iran was pursuing talks with South Africa’s MTN as a replacement for Turkcell.
He said Turkcell had lost heart in the project when parliamentarians stripped it of management rights. It was awarded a controlling 70 percent stake last year, but lawmakers this year slashed that to 49 percent.
“Following the parliamentary bill, Turkcell’s change of attitude was quite visible,” he said.
Parliamentarians argued it was a security risk to allow a foreign firm to control key infrastructure such as telecommunications.
Neither Iran’s telecommunications ministry nor Turkcell was immediately available to comment.
