Entries from July 2008 ↓

Omantel signed an agreement on Friday with Egypt’s Middle East and North Africa (Mena) Company, which will see a landing station established on the sultanate’s coast as part of an 8,000 kilometre submarine fibre optic cable project.

It is expected the cable will land at Seeb, near Oman’s capital Muscat, by the third quarter of next year.

The cable will pass through Italy, Greece, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman and India, costing a total of US$400 million, but it is yet to be confirmed what share of the costs Omantel will bear.

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Vodafone may have to wait until October to receive approval for its purchase of Ghana Telecom (GT), after opposition parties sought to block the government’s deal as parliament went into summer recess.

Ghana’s opposition party believes Vodafone’s purchase offer undervalues GT’s worth

Ghana’s main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has criticised the £450 million (US$900 million) sale of a 70 per cent stake in the state-owned operator saying it goes against the national interest.

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Threatened legal action between India’s billionaire brothers over Reliance Communication’s potential merger with Africa’s MTN Group, has ended negotiations which would have resulted in an emerging markets telecoms giant worth US$66 billion.

Ongoing feuds between brothers Anil and Mukesh Ambani ruined Reliance’s chances of merging with MTN.

Anil Ambani controls Reliance Communications (RCom) which had been in dialogue with MTN since May 26 and had extended talks until July 21.

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Kuwaiti-born IT solutions provider International Turnkey Systems (ITS) has become a local success story with 19 offices across the Arab world. Michelle Mills travelled to Egypt and met with senior ITS executives to discuss the launch of the company’s new brand and its future direction

Amid a dazzling light display and a striking animation, the new logo and brand of ITS was launched in Sharm El Sheikh at the end of May. Managing director and general manager Khaled Faraj Al-Saeid stated that the event marked the milestone of ITS’ internal transformation to emerge as a “company without borders”.

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Dubai-based boutique management consultancy Affinitiv has confirmed its acquisition by global management consultancy Arthur D. Little. No figures were released.

Affinitiv specialises in strategic telecommunications and customer relationship management consultancy in the region, and the company’s founder and CEO, Zoran Vasiljev and employees will join Arthur D. Little’s Middle East practice, with Vasiljev serving as a company director. Affinitiv enjoyed a long-standing relationship with du, the second network operator in the UAE, for example.

 Zoran Vasiljev, founder and CEO of Affinitiv has become a director with Arthur D. Little in the Middle East 

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