MTC Receives Saudi Approval

KUWAIT CITY -- The MTC Consortium announces that it has received official notification from the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) of the formal approval by the Council of Ministers of its SAR 22.91 billion (USD6.109 billion) financial bid for the third mobile telecommunications licence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

With the notification, MTC Consortium has now received a mandate to establish a public joint-stock company to hold the licence and operate the 3rd mobile telecommunications company in the Kingdom. The 25-year licence will allow the company to offer GSM, 3G and 3.5G and future state-of-the-art mobile telecommunications services throughout the Kingdom.

This licence will give MTC a presence in the largest market in the Gulf Cooperation Council ('GCC') in terms of population and the largest economy in the Middle East and Africa, reinforcing MTC's position as the leading regional mobile operator.

The expected launch date of MTC's services in the KSA is early 2008 and the headquarters will be in Riyadh.

Commenting on the approval, Dr. Saad Al Barrak, Chief Executive Officer of MTC, stated:

'We are elated to have received the formal approval of our bid for the third mobile licence and sincerely thank King Abdullah, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and His Government for their collective trust and confidence in MTC and acknowledge the CITC for their outright professionalism in the licence process. In return, we assure them and the Saudi community that our commitment to the Kingdom extends beyond providing world-class mobile services to our customers, as we share the same vision in promoting economic prosperity, creating jobs for locals and supporting communities wherever we operate.'

Mobile Telecommunications Co. (MTC)