09/12/2006 11:30 PM | By Mohammad Ezz Al Deen, Staff Reporter

Dubai: etisalat and du, the UAE’s two telecommunications operators, will sign the final agreement on mutual operations within days, a top etisalat official said on Tuesday.

“We agreed to nearly 100 per cent of the agreement’s details, signing was supposed to happen this week, but it has been delayed to next week,” said etisalat chief executive Mohammad Al Qemzi.

The final connection, commercial and financial agreement will be signed under the aegis of the UAE’s Telecommunication Regulatory Authority.

du and etisalat have finished negotiations on technical issues, connection of networks and most of the issues relating to finance and tariffs.

Singing the agreement is a must for du, the second operator, to start its operations and services.

du had originally planned to start operations in the third quarter of 2006. It now says it is aiming to start offering services before the end of the year.

Al Qemzi told reporters etisalat is studying the acquisition of a telecom company in the region, but gave no details. “Negotiations could take two to three months before we announce the results.”

“We are eyeing 10 investment opportunities in African and Asian countries and this company is one of them”.

He said etisalat’s operations in Egypt are running as projected. “The company is planning to attract six to eight million subscribers in its network in the first year of operation,”

Al Qemzi said etisalat had signed agreements with two international telecom companies to equip basic mobile systems in the main Egyptian cities. “We signed agreements with Ericson and Huwawi to equip our network in Cairo and Alexandria,” he said.

“etisalat expects a huge demand of its services, especially since Egyptian mobile subscribers do not exceed 15 million. We have good opportunities in this 75-million population market,” A l Qemzi added.

“etisalat expect good revenues after launching its operation in Egypt next February.”