The UAE has approved a new Dh4-billion ($1.1 billion) telecom service provider to end a sector monopoly in the country, state news agency WAM reported.

It said the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority agreed to license the new company, which will be partly owned by a state pension fund, private investors and public shareholders.
A portion of the company, which the agency did not name, will be sold in an initial public offering.
The move will end the monopoly of Emirates Telecommunications Co (Etisalat), which is 60-per cent owned by the UAE government, with the rest of the shares held by UAE nationals.
“This initiative constitutes the first step in the liberalisation of the sector,” the agency quoted Mohammed Khalfan bin Kharbash, minister of state for finance and industry, as saying.
“We will create a fertile ground and environment for all telecom companies to achieve their aspired goals in the short and long terms,” said Kharbash, who heads the authority.
Regulators will announce in the coming months a timetable for launching and operating the company, WAM said.
The UAE, a federation of seven emirates, has a population of 4 million, mostly expatriates, with a high penetration rate for telecom and Internet services.