Page 14 - SAMENA Trends - February 2022

REGIONAL & MEMBERS UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Saudi Tawal Buys Pakistani Awal

Saudi Telecom Company (stc) tower unit Tawal made its businesses’ shareholders are or how many towers it operates.
first foray outside its domestic market with the 100 per cent Telecom tower industry tracker TowerXchange states Awal
acquisition of Pakistan-based independent tower company Telecom is owned by Progressive Technologies Investments
Awal Telecom, and indicated further acquisitions could lie (PTI), a privately-owned telecommunications systems company,
ahead. Few other details of the transaction were released, such and had built at least 45 towers. The Pakistani towerco primarily
as how much Tawal paid for Awal Telecom, who the acquired operates in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of
the country, including North and South Waziristan, Orakzai
Agency, KPK, Islamabad and Rawalpindi, and provides services to
operators Jazz, Telenor Pakistan, Ufone and Zong. Tawal stated
it will rebrand Awal Telecom as Tawal Pakistan once regulatory
approval of the deal has been received. The Saudi towerco also
noted the acquisition marks the first step in its “international
expansion roadmap”. TowerXchange remarked that 36,187
towers in Pakistan currently serve the four MNOs, which have
a combined mobile subscriber base of 189 million. “It has been
estimated that 30,000 to 40,000 additional towers will be required
over the next five years, so it is little wonder that Tawal has sought
out its first foothold outside Saudi Arabia here,” the research
company observed. Tawal is a 100 per cent-owned subsidiary
of STC, and owns and manages more than 15,500 mobile towers
in Saudi Arabia. It launched in April 2019 after STC decided
to carve out its towers business and establish a separate unit.

Etisalat Recognizes Outstanding SMBs and
Start-Ups in the UAE

Etisalat announced the winners of the
second ‘SMB Awards 2021’ in a grand
gala event to recognize and celebrate the
outstanding achievements of Small and
Medium businesses (SMBs) in the UAE. The
prestigious awards ceremony was attended
by H.E. Faisal Al Hammadi, Assistant
Undersecretary for Entrepreneurship and
SMEs from the Ministry of Economy, along
with senior management from Etisalat
joined by more than 200 partners and
business representatives from the SMB
community. In his keynote at the awards
ceremony, H.E. Al Hammadi applauded the
success of the SMB community and lauded (Women in Business), Aster Hospitals UAE to all winners, highlighting their potential,
the strong collaborative support of the (Digital Transformation), Prognica Labs resilience and agility to to differentiate
UAE government in creating a conducive (Artificial Intelligence), Tecton Engineering their business. He said: “The SMB awards
and sustainable ecosystem that is well- & Construction (Top Sustainability), celebrate the wealth of excellence and
placed to produce successful unicorn Route Mobile (Business Mobility), innovation in our industry. We live and
companies in the country. The awards Universal Medical Transfer Services (Top work in different times where progress is
recognized ten pioneering entrepreneurs Healthcare), Corporate Business Services determined by how quickly and efficiently,
and thriving businesses across ten (CSR), Edenred UAE (Technology for Good), we innovate and transform for the benefit
categories. These mainly included ARJ and Al Adil Trading (SMB of the Year). Esam of societies, regardless of the competitive
Holding (Emirati Business), Ascentria Mahmoud, Senior Vice President, SMB, business landscape. Driven by our service
Examinations & Tests Preparation Centre Etisalat, offered a congratulatory message mantra for SMBs ‘Your Business Grows

14 FEBRUARY 2022