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Mumbai, March 12: The telecom triad — Reliance, Bharti and MTNL — are all vying for a licence to offer mobile telecommunication services in Saudi Arabia.

The bidding is expected to be fierce and the Indian telecom firms are pitted against the billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who is jointly bidding with Turkish mobile operator Turkcell, and the Ruia bugbear Orascom Telecom Holding (Egypt).

The three telecom firms are responding to a call for applications from the Saudi telecom regulator, The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC).

After Saudia Arabia decided to liberalise the telecommunication sector last year, it had floated last October a request for applications to award a second fixed-line licence and a third mobile licence.

CITC has received 10 applications for fixed-line services licence on March 10. Last month, it received nine applications for mobile services licence. MTNL has applied for both mobile and fixed-line services licence, while Bharti and Reliance have applied for the mobile services licence only.

However, regulations in Saudi Arabia stipulate that overseas companies must join hands with a domestic entity. Confirming that the company has expressed interest, a Bharti statement said it is part of a consortium with Samawat, a local entity, with a minority stake of 15 per cent. “We will not hold a majority stake,” an official said. Bharti will provide comprehensive management services, including negotiation with vendors, rollout of networks, brand building and distribution, a company statement said.

MTNL has aligned with Al Shoula. In the mobile telephony space, Reliance Telecom, an arm of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group, has joined hands with Abdullah Al Rajhi.