Syria has opened an international bidding process for a new mobile network operator under a 20-year licence to replace MTN Syria, marking the clearest step yet toward the South African telecoms group’s long-delayed departure from the country.
The ministry of communications and information technology said on Wednesday that the bidding process, announced on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, would run until June 15. The successful bidder will receive a 20-year licence and acquire a 75 percent stake in the new telecom venture, while Syria’s sovereign wealth fund will retain the remaining 25 percent.
The move effectively clears the path for MTN Group to exit a market it has struggled to leave for several years.
MTN said separately that its chief executive, Ralph Mupita, met Syria’s communications minister, Abdul Salam Haykal, during the conference. Both sides agreed to proceed with the company’s withdrawal and said the process would be implemented imminently.
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Neither the company nor Syrian authorities said whether MTN would receive compensation for its 75 percent stake in the local unit.
MTN first announced plans in 2020 to sell its holding in MTN Syria to minority shareholder TeleInvest for $65 million. The transaction never closed, and the company eventually walked away from the operation in 2021, saying regulatory actions and government demands had made its continued presence in the country untenable.
The dispute escalated after a court in Damascus placed MTN Syria under judicial guardianship over alleged breaches of its licence obligations. Syrian authorities argued the company’s actions had deprived the state of revenue. MTN denied the allegations.
The telecoms group later booked a loss of 4.7 billion rand ($250 million) linked to the deconsolidation of the Syrian subsidiary.
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The latest tender reflects a broader reshaping of Syria’s telecoms sector after years of uncertainty surrounding MTN’s position in the market.
For MTN, the exit also fits a wider strategy to retreat from operations outside Africa. The Johannesburg-listed operator has already sold businesses in Yemen and Afghanistan and is seeking to divest its 49 percent stake in Iran, though that process has been slowed by U.S. sanctions.
The company has instead focused investment on its core African markets, where it is expanding mobile data services, digital financial platforms and infrastructure such as data centres.
Syria’s tender signals that authorities are now looking for a new long-term investor to rebuild and operate the country’s third mobile network under a fresh licence structure.
