Mobile telecom provider in the Maldives receives OPEC Fund support

Press Release - OPEC Fund for International Development

An agreement for a US$7 million loan has been signed between the OPEC Fund for International Development and Wataniya Telcom Maldives Private Limited (WTM), the second largest mobile service provider in the country. Despite advances made in improving the availability and quality of fixed and mobile telecommunications services in the Maldives, coverage between the islands is limited. As no competing telecom provider has existed, charges for high-margin services such as cellular and long-distance are prohibitive. As part of its telecommunications policy strategy, government’s key aims are to lower costs, reduce coverage disparities, enhance the mobile services network and promote competition within the sector. These policies led to a bid to become the Maldives’ second mobile operator, and in February 2005 the license was awarded to Wataniya Telecom, which subsequently formed WTM.

WTM will use the Fund loan to co-finance the launch of a GSM network to provide good-quality mobile coverage throughout the country and facilitate the use of services such as text and multimedia messaging, email and the Internet. This will benefit both the local population and the country’s large influx of tourists. WTM will also be part of a group that installs fiber-optic submarine cable in order to develop an international gateway in the Maldives.

The loan represents the OPEC Fund's third private sector operation in the Maldives. Assistance has also been approved to the public sector in the form of balance of payments support and project loans in the transportation, agriculture, water supply and sewerage, education and national development banks sectors. In addition, the country has benefited from several grants. In July 2001, an agreement for the encouragement and protection of investment was entered into between the Fund and the Government of the Maldives. The present loan agreement was signed by Mr. Abdel Hakim, Financial Controller of Wataniya Telcom Maldives Private Limited, and by HE Mr. Jamal Nasser Lootah, Chairman of the Governing Board of the OPEC Fund.

Source: harold doan