The Telecommunications Authority of Maldives (TAM) today has awarded a mobile telecommunications licence to Wataniya Telecom Maldives Private Limited, the company established in Maldives by Wataniya International upon winning the bid for the second mobile licence.  The licence was awarded at a ceremony held at Nasandhura Palace Hotel.

The Minister of Communications, Science and Technology Hon. Midhath Hilmy and the Chairman of the TAM Regulatory Board Dr. Hassan Hameed were present at the ceremony.  Other attendees at the ceremony include the Deputy Minster at the Ministry of Atolls Administration Ms Fathmath Sheereen, Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP Maldives Ms. Kari Blindheim and representatives from the relevant Government Departments and commercial sectors.

Mr. Mohamed Amir Chief Executive of Telecom Authority, and Mr. Solah Fahud Sultan, the Chairman of Wataniya Telecom Maldives signed the licence document. The period of the licence awarded to Wataniya is 15 years commencing from 1^st February 2005.  Under this licence Wataniya will provide advanced cellular mobile services throughout the country. The company is targeting a service rollout to all inhabited islands within 6 months from the award of licence.

Subsequent to the invitation to bid, announced on the 10 August 2004, four parties submitted bids, namely, Telecom Malaysia International, Syriatel Mobile Telecom S.A, Wataniya Telecom and Bharti Consortium. All bidders proposed acceptably lower tariff commitments.  The successful bidder, Wataniya, proposed the shortest deployment period and the highest investment among all bidders.

Liberalising the cellular mobile services market of the Maldives was one of the actions in the ongoing Maldives Telecommunications Policy 2001-2005.  The process of liberalising was conducted through a project jointly funded by the Government of Maldives and the UNDP. The target of TAM in the process was to issue the 2^nd Mobile licence during 2004.  To this effect, the signing ceremony was planned for late December 2004.  However due to tragic events of 26 December, the ceremony was postponed.