MTN Group, one of South
Africa’s leading telecoms operator, could add up to $1 billion in loan
repayments and dividends to its books following a long awaited nuclear deal
reached by world powers and Iran last week, the firm’s investor relations
officer told said.
The South African mobile operator was blocked, by sanctions
imposed on Iran by the United Nations, European Union and the US, from
transferring it dividends from the Middle Eastern country’s state-owned
telecom, Irancell, in which it owns a 49 percent stake.
Irancell is the second biggest mobile service provider in a
country of more than 80 million people. Weakness in the Iranian currency — rial
— hurt Irancell’s earnings, making it difficult for it to repatriate hundreds
of millions of dollars to MTN Group.
A framework deal reached between western nation and Iran
regarding its nuclear power ambitions has helped unlock nearly $1 billion for
MTN. The nuclear deal will curb Iran’s plan for at least 10 years and in
exchange world power would lifting sanctions against the country.
“The
lifting of the sanctions would then allow us to start to repatriate some of the
money,”Reuters quoted Nik Kershaw, head of investor
relations at MTN, saying earlier this week.
Apart from MTN, western energy companies are also eying
opportunities in Iran’s oil and gas sector once the sanctions are fully lifted.
Iran has the world’s fourth-largest proven oil reserves and second-largest
natural gas reserves.
“In
a post-sanctions world, on the back of a multifaceted economy beyond
hydrocarbons and oil and gas, Iran can be the most exciting frontier market,”
Ali Borhani, founder of Dubai-based advisory firm Incubeemea, told the Wall Street Journal.
