MTN Zambia has commercially launched its LTE network upgrade, making it the first operator in the country to offer the service.

CEO Abdul Ismail said the commercial launch of 4G LTE is part of a bigger network transformation plan that MTN has been undertaking over the past few years.

The cellco disclosed that the launch of LTE is the first phase that covers Lusaka, Kitwe, Ndola and Livingstone. Phase two, which is already a work-in-progress, will expand LTE coverage within these towns and cover some new towns as well.

The LTE launch comes just a few months after the company upgraded its 3G network to support 42Mbps download speeds following the connection of the network to the West Africa Cable System (WACS).

The WACS is a submarine communications cable that links to the UK along the west coast of Africa.

Ericsson’s incumbent CEO, Hans Vestberg is being considered as the possible successor to Steve Ballmer at Microsoft, according to a news report.

Citing people briefed on the head-hunting efforts, Microsoft’s board is actively considering the Ericsson boss to head up the US software giant.

Vestberg, 48, joined Ericsson in 1988 and was its CFO between 2007-9, before taking over as CEO in 2010.

His key achievements include having been able to sell off the half of the Sony-Ericsson joint venture to Sony and beef up the company’s managed services business.

Nokia’s former CEO, Stephen Elop, as well as Microsoft’s head of cloud computing, Satya Nadella are also still under consideration, the sources added on a condition of anonymity.

Microsoft is aiming to complete the search in the early part of this year, which would potentially give the new CEO a short time to settle in ahead of the company’s next major software release.

Last August Ballmer announced that he would retire just as soon as the company found his successor. The decision came after a major reorganisation that aimed to turn Microsoft into a "devices and services" company.

Zain Bahrain has signed a four-year partnership with Ericsson to manage, plan and optimise its new network that will be launched by the end of March.

Under the four-year managed services and support agreement, Ericsson will manage the day-to-day operations of Zain’s new network.

The network transformation, which began in April 2013, will give Zain Bahrain a new state-of-the-art network and promises faster download speeds and wider coverage. The new network will also be delivered by Ericsson.

Huawei released its unaudited financial results, and said that its revenues for 2013 are expected to be up by around eight per cent at between CNY238 billion to CNY 240 billion (around US$39.8 billion).

More than 75 per cent of the carrier network business group’s revenue in 2013 came from the world’s top 50 telecom carriers, while the proportion of revenue from services and software in the carrier business increased to 37 per cent in 2013 from 34 per cent in 2012.

Huawei says that it also generated rapid growth in its consumer and enterprise business groups.

CFO Cathy Meng announced that Huawei’s operating profit for 2013 is expected to be in the range CNY28.6 billion to CNY29.4 billion. That represents a jump of around 43 per cent over the previous year. The company said that profits growth was due to restructuring and cost cutting measures.

Meng commented, "Huawei’s investment in R&D reached CNY33 billion, accounting for about 14 per cent of our sales revenue."

Huawei’s audited results are due to be announced in the second quarter of 2014.

Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN) today announced the inauguration of its new office in Tripoli, Libya.

The office will enhance the company’s operational agility for delivery of its mobile broadband infrastructure for all operators in the country. The opening of this new office strengthens NSN’s presence in North Africa and reiterates its commitment to help operators in the Middle East and Africa region build world-class mobile broadband infrastructure.