France Telecom's abortive attempt to buy Orascom Telecom's remaining stake in Egyptian Company for Mobile Services (ECMS), which operates as Mobinil, dominated the headlines across the Middle East and Africa in recent weeks.

Mobile licensing procedures were also high on the agenda in a number of markets – there are upcoming tenders in three countries – and various high-profile players reported quarterly results.

Below we provide a run-down of the latest news from the region. But first, we will unravel everything that happened between France Telecom, Orascom Telecom and Mobinil.

The many twists and turns in the story made for baffling reading.

Egypt's Orascom Telecom and France Telecom came to blows over their shared ownership of Egyptian mobile operator Mobinil back in 2007.

Earlier this month a judge ruled in favour of the French incumbent and ordered Orascom to transfer its entire stake in Mobinil to France Telecom. The move would have given France Telecom majority control of the mobile unit and enabled it to consolidate Mobinil's results into its own, but the complex nature of the mobile operator's ownership structure (see chart) led to further dispute between the main players.

As it stands, the companies appear to have reached an impasse, although there is sure to be more to come. Here is a timeline of events so far:

5 April 2009
Egypt's Arbitration Court ends a legal battle dating back to 2007 by ordering Orascom to transfer its 28.75% stake in Mobinil (confusingly a holding company, not the operating company with the same brand – see ownership chart for more details) to France Telecom for €530 million, giving the latter 100% control of the company.


This gives France Telecom majority control of mobile operator ECMS (Mobinil) through the holding company's 51.03% stake.

Orascom meanwhile retains its direct 20% stake in ECMS (Mobinil); the remaining 28.97% is in free float.

Orascom chairman Naguib Sawiris immediately claims that France Telecom is also obliged to make a mandatory offer for the outstanding 49% of ECMS (Mobinil) it does not own. France Telecom denies the claim. 

7 April 2009
Nonetheless, France Telecom makes an offer for ECMS (Mobinil) at a 54.2% premium to the company's average closing price over the last six months and a 33.1% premium on the closing price on 5 April (closing price = 150.03 Egyptian pounds, approximately US$26.90).

The offer is rejected by stock market regulator Egyptian Capital Market Authority (CMA) on grounds that it is too low.

9 April 2009
Deadline for transfer of Orascom's 28.75% stake in holding company Mobinil to France Telecom as mandated by the original ruling.

France Telecom claims it is ready to transfer the necessary funds but says the stock is still listed as collateral by Orascom's creditors.

Orascom argues that the shares are ready to be transferred, and claims it is just waiting for payment.

France Telecom expresses interest in making another offer for the remaining 49% of ECMS (Mobinil), but puts plans on hold, pending the transfer of Orascom's shares.

13 April 2009
France Telecom again asks Orascom to comply with the Arbitration Court ruling.

Orascom proposes extending deadline to 15 April.

15 April 2009
Orascom says France Telecom has failed to pay purchase price for its Mobinil shares. The Egyptian operator insists it provided France Telecom with proof its banks were in a position to release the Mobinil shares.

Orascom also says that at the request of the CMA, it will refrain from issuing further press announcements on the subject.

And everything goes quiet.


 

We certainly haven't heard the last of this complicated tale though.

It is likely that the courts will force through the transaction between Orascom and France Telecom one way or another, although we see more mud-slinging between the pair before the situation is resolved.

It is unlikely that France Telecom will be legally obliged to buy out the shares in ECMS (Mobinil) that it does not own, but we expect the French operator to launch another offer voluntarily.

What do you think? Let us know by commenting below.

Meanwhile, Egypt has not been the only source of exasperation for France Telecom in the MEA region recently.

Unions representing workers at Senegalese telco Sonatel on 17 April threatened to go on strike in a bid to block France Telecom's attempt to take control of the company. The French operator agreed to acquire a further 9.87% of Sonatel from the government, to take its total holding to 52.2%.

At the time of writing, no further progress had been made, but look out for further developments on Total Telecom.

France Telecom is committed to expansion in Africa. The operator is present in 15 countries there including Kenya, Uganda, Cameroon, and Ivory Coast.

Despite CEO Didier Lombard ruling out large-scale mergers and acquisitions in an interview at the beginning of 2009, he said the operator remained interested in acquiring more telecoms licences in Africa.

Opportunities for further expansion into the Middle East and Africa are certainly on the cards.

At the end of March Jordan's telecoms regulator restarted its 3G tender process; the first attempt was postponed late last year. Potential bidders include Kuwait's Zain, iDEN operator Xpress Mobile and France Telecom's Orange.

Jordan's Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) is aiming for 3G services to be up and running by the end of 2009. The winner of the licence will be revealed on 27 May and the licence will be officially awarded the following month.

Meanwhile, Syria plans to auction off and issue its third mobile licence by late 2009, communications minister Imad Sabouni told Dow Jones Newswires recently. The UAE's Etisalat has said it will bid.

In a separate story, the Syrian government has said Zain is in talks to buy a stake in SyriaTel Mobile Telecom.

Mozambique is also preparing for its third mobile licence tender, with local media reports claiming that Vodafone has expressed interest in participating. According to statistics from the ITU, mobile penetration in Mozambique stands at just 15%, well below the average for sub-Saharan Africa.

Infrastructure projects also made headlines in recent weeks with Omantel CEO Amer Al Rawas planning to invest an unspecified amount in expanding the operator's 2G and 3.5G networks in 2009.

Riyadh-based Arabsat plans to launch four satellites worth $1.2 billion by 2012, while in mid April work began on a 5,000-km undersea fibre cable linking the UAE to Kenya. The East African Marine System (TEAMS) is expected to take two months to complete at a cost of $130 million.

Finally, a number of telcos have recently published calendar first-quarter results, including:

Etisalat (20 April) 

Saudi Telecom (21 April)

QTel (21 April) 

Batelco (22 April).

Look out for another round-up next week from a different region, as we pull together the biggest telecoms stories from around the world.

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