South Africa’s MTN is negotiating to upgrade its existing build operate transfer (BOT) contract in war-torn Syria into a full, 20-year operating licence, according to the Financial Times.

The company will pay an initial licence fee of between SYP18 billion ($120 million) and SYP25 billion, which is equivalent to approximately one year’s revenue that it currently pays to the Syrian government under its BOT arrangement.

MTN has bankrolled about $250 million in dividends in Syria that it has been unable to move out of the country. The company hopes to finalise the licence deal before the end of 2014.

MTN is the smaller of two operators in Syria with 5.76 million mobile connnections (Q2, 2014 GSMA Intelligence figures). Rival Syriatel, which is controlled by leading local tycoon Rami Makhlouf, has 6.68 million connections.

Sifiso Dabengwa, MTN’s CEO, insisted the company does not regret being in the Syrian market. He has argued that mobile communications can be a force for good in the country, which is torn apart by civil war.

More pragmatically, he also said: “It would be a 20-year licence and I guess the reality is that the problems that they [Syrians] are having now would come to an end.”

He added: “The only response I have heard from our shareholders is a little bit on the positive side in the sense there is meaningful use for the cash that is in the country.”