Kuwait’s Zain is making one of its biggest telecom bets in years, committing over $1.5 billion to operate and modernise a mobile network in Syria, more than a decade after selling a vast African business built from Celtel, the company founded by British-Sudanese billionaire Mo Ibrahim.
The deal puts Zain back at the centre of a major emerging-market telecom expansion story, this time in Syria, where Gulf capital is moving into critical infrastructure after years of war and isolation.
Zain said it won the licence for the former MTN network after a competitive tender conducted by Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, with a $747 million bid.
The licence will run for 20 years, with an option to extend it by five years, while Zain will own 75% of the new Syrian operating company and a Syrian government entity will hold the remaining 25%.
The group expects to launch the Zain Syria brand in the first quarter of 2027, subject to regulatory and licensing approvals.
