Syriatel ( ar, سيريتل) is a mobile network provider in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. It is one of the only two providers in Syria, the other being

MTN Syria MTN Syria is one of the two only mobile operators in Syria, the other being Syriatel. MTN Syria was previously known as "Areeba". It offers GSM and 3.5G broadband 4G (LTE) services. In 2020, MTN Group MTN Group Limited, formerly M-Cell, i ...

. In 2022 the Syrian telecommunications authority awarded the third telecom license to Wafa Telecom. It offers LTE with 150 Mb/s speeds, under the brand name Super Surf.

History

Syriatel was founded in January 2000, with its headquarters in Damascus, Syria. The Government licenses two private companies to supply mobile phone services, Syriatel and "94". Orascom provided the management. The license with the Government was a Build-own-transfer (BOT) contract for 15 years. In 2017 Syriatel introduced 4G speeds offering 150 Mb/s speeds, branded Super Surf. On 5 June 2020, a Syrian court ordered Syriatel be placed under judicial custody.

Ownership

When the company was founded in 2000, Syriatel was owned by the Egyptian telecommunications company

Orascom Orascom Construction PLC (OC) is an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor based in Cairo, Egypt. The company was Egypt's first multinational corporation and stands at the core of the Orascom Group companies. OC is active in mo ...

(25%) and Rami Makhlouf (75%), cousin of Syrian president

Bashar al-Assad Bashar Hafez al-Assad, ', Levantine pronunciation: ; (, born 11 September 1965) is a Syrian politician who is the 19th president of Syria, since 17 July 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the ...

. In 2003, Orascom sold its ownership in Syriatel.

Company

The company is owned by Rami Makhlouf, cousin of Syrian president

. The company had approximately 3,500 employees and 8 million customers as of 2016. It is headquartered on Sehnaya Road in Damascus.

Technologies

Syriatel operate a network of GSM 900 / 1800 & 3G 2100 & 4G 1800 cellular networks.

Sanctions

In 2011 the European Union imposed sanctions on Syriatel in order to intensify pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

References

Telecommunications companies of Syria Internet service providers of Syria Companies established in 2000 2000 establishments in Syria Companies based in Damascus Syrian brands Companies of Syria {{telecom-company-stub