Orascom Telecom, the biggest mobile phone operator in the Middle East and North Africa, has set up a new unit, Telecel Globe, to evaluate investment opportunities in Africa and Asia. “Telecel Globe will be fully staffed on its own,” said Naguib Sawiris, chairman and CEO of Orascom Telecom. “Orascom Telecom will only support its procurement power and commercial know how.” According to an Unstrung report, Telecel is targeting investments in small operators in the regions but is yet to acquire any licenses.

Orascom Telecom had a total customer base of 74 million subscribers at the end of the first quarter 2008 and runs mobile operations in Algeria, Pakistan, Egypt, Tunisia, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. It has a history of establishing businesses in challenging environments; in January it announced it won the right to launch the first commercial mobile service in North Korea, whilst last December it sold 100 percent of Iraqna, its Iraq unit, for US$1.2 billion to Zain, the Kuwaiti phone company formerly known as Mobile Telecommunications Company. Unstrung further reports that Orascom is now eyeing Cuba following the country’s lifting on restrictions of mobile phone usage.