Vodafone will pay over $2 billion for its second mobile licence in Qatar, where its unit would also launch an initial public offer by November.
In a statement issued from Doha, The Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology, Qatar's telecom regulator, has said that Vodafone/Qatar Foundation Consortium will pay a fee of 7.716 billion Qatar rials (about $2.1 billion) for the second mobile licence in the country.
The regulator also announced the shareholding structure of the Licensee Company, which will include Vodafone/Qatar Foundation Consortium (45 per cent), public shareholders through an IPO (40 per cent), and Governmental/Qatari Institutional Shareholding (15 per cent).
"The licence will be issued to the new company once the legal details relating to the formation of the Licensee Company are finalised," the statement said.
The IPO for the 40 per cent of the shares to be held by the public will be held in or before November 30, 2008, which is now the latest date for the IPO.
"It is expected that the new licensee will launch services on the first quarter of 2009," the regulator said.
