Etisalat would invest $500 mln in Libya network

DUBAI, July 21 (Reuters) - UAE's Etisalat ETEL.AD, which has bid for a fixed and mobile licence in Libya, would invest at least $500 million in the network if it won the competition, a top official said on Tuesday.

"Libya is very strategic," Jamal al-Jarwan, chief executive of Etisalat's international unit, told Reuters by telephone.

Etisalat, the Gulf Arab region's second-largest telecommunication's firm by market value, said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday it submitted a bid to the Libyan General Telecommunications Authority on July 15.

"We're hopeful we can add value. although the size is small, users are holding good at $15 revenue per user"

"We would need a new network and it will not be less than $500 million," he said. "That's the minimum to get started."

(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Amran Abocar)