Etihad Etisalat (Mobily), Saudi Arabia's second-largest mobile phone operator, will buy local internet and data communication provider Zajil for 80 million riyals ($21.33 million), it said on Saturday.

Mobily has won approval of Saudi Arabia's telecom watchdog for the transaction involving 96 per cent of Zajil International Telecommunications Company's capital, Mobily said in a statement posted on the bourse's website.

This is Mobily's second acquisition in less than a year. It has agreed in September to buy local data provider Bayanat al-Oula for $400 million.

The Zajil deal will enable Mobily to 'provide integrated and highly-efficient telecom solutions', it said. It did not give further financial details.

Mobily has been seeking to make an aggressive entry into the data and internet segment since it lost a bid to win a fixed-line telecom licence about a year ago.

It launched last year wireless internet broadband services
to compete with state-controlled Saudi Telecom Company, which holds both fixed and mobile phone licences.

Mobily's shares are down 27.55 per cent this year to last week's close, underperforming the main index, which is down more than 14 percent. The telecom sector has fallen 27.3 per cent this year.-Reuters