Like Etisalat, Zain's key markets are the Middle East and Africa, and the two companies have emerged as major rivals, going head-to-head in markets across the continent. And as we said in The National last year, the battle is favouring the Kuwaitis at this stage:
As you can see, Etisalat has had a hard time landing punches on Zain in Africa. The UAE national operator is due to open for business in India later this year - the question is, will its persistent Gulf competitor be there, ready and waiting?
It is no secret that Zain, the Kuwaiti mobile operator, has been looking for expansion opportunities in Asia for some time. Reuters is quoting reports in the Kuwaiti Arabic-lanuage daily Al-Qabas as saying the company is now in talks with an (unnamed) Chinese delegation.
And Dow Jones has a company statement saying that it was looking for an acquisition in India, but in 2008 "we were unable to conclude any transaction." The report lists the newly-licensed operators Datacon and Loop as the targets of Zain's attention.
