National Democrats seem content to let the clock run out on George W. Bush’s presidency with no serious effort to hold him accountable. George W. Bush’s “war on terror” and the Iraq War have led the United States to debase its highest ideals, at home and abroad. As the time on his presidency ticks down, George W. Bush is still trying to stoke the fires of confrontation with Iran, relying on his signature mix of bellicosity and self-righteousness.
Why this is good business for wireless carriers in the area and mobile Investors in general. Iran maintains an ideological leadership and claim to hold the line on the west for more than a billion people East of the Middle East. From Caucasus and Turkey all the way to India there are Parsi peoples everywhere and many others who regard Persia as the intellectual and trend leader for the Middle East as others regard Canada for the Americas or Scandinavia for Europe. Iran has three main mobile telephony providers who do great penetration business with about 73% of the population being wireless. In contrast the state owned old line Telco only has 57% lines to people. The regional mobile wireless players are innovative and less expensive than counterparts in the rest of the middle East. In Iran also exist no less than five MVNOs and numerous bucket sellers. The foreign direct investment there is European and mainly German and French. It’s a huge market and is closer to the mainline for the other billions of people residing as consumers on the Bottom of the Pyramid.
The threat of war with Iran increases the opportunitiesfor these wireless players that are open to FDI from willing Strategic Investors. On the main blog you get to see their RPUs and ROI along with discussion with the CEOs. My friend Naguib Sawiris has made smart investments in the Iraq wireless and mobile infrastructure and is eyeing the Persian market with a tenuous foothold there. In due time he will jump in. Others will follow. The openness of the market and the youthful appeal are magnetic draws. Also he who controls the wireless is the leader in communication services and the convergence in Iran is still far away. Opportunity abounds. The good thing with FDI is that no war nor invasion is necessary to gain a legitimate market share. It is a far more intelligent approach to win friends and influence people. Now if only we could lift the embargo too since the Intelligence community assured us that Iran is not (NOT) a nuclear threat we can do some healthy business even if You have to do so via Europe and China. China Mobile will ink a deal there in the next few months….Any lessons here?
FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT RULES !!!
