Iran has reversed a decision to award the country’s third mobile phone license to Etisalat, a state-owned operator of the United Arab Emirates, saying the company had failed “to give necessary guarantees and license fees on time”.

Tehran announced in January that a consortium led by Etisalat, the UAE’s largest operator, won the tender with a €300m bid for the license and a pledge to invest up to $5bn over five years. Etisalat’s bid was preferred ahead of rivals including Zain of Kuwait, Egypt’s Orascom, Qatar Telecom and Telekom Malaysia.