Vodacom posted a rise in its first half revenues and profits that were at the upper end of its earlier guidance.

The company said revenues rose by 6.6 per cent to ZAR36.7 billion (US$3.67 billion) in the six months to the end of September. Growth in data revenue of 20.6 per cent and positive growth in prepaid segment revenue was offset by a 23.6 per cent decline in interconnect revenue coupled with poor performance by the independent service providers.

Strong growth in customers and benefits from accelerated investment programme in Mozambique supported service revenue growth of 8.7 per cent in the international operations. International operations now contribute 21.6 per cent of service revenue up from 20.2 per cent a year ago.

Net profit rose by 8.4 per cent to ZAR6.63 billion. Debt amounted to ZAR11.96 billion at the end of the period, a rise of 3.4 per cent year-on-year. During the period the group obtained two additional loans with a combined value of ZAR4.5 billion from Vodafone, which owns 65 per cent of the company to finance capital expenditure and working capital requirements and to repay maturing long term debt.

The group’s active customers increased 9.7 per cent to 53.8 million; with net connections of 949, 000 for South Africa and 2.3 million in the international operations for the six months period.

Zambia’s Zamtel has announced the doubling of its network in the tourist capital of Livingstone, from 12 to 23 WCDMA capable base stations. The upgrade was provided by Ericsson, and the vendor has also conducted LTE trials on the hardware.

Zamtel has also ordered 128 3G base stations to be deployed in the capital city, Lusaka by the end of next year.

Last June, Dubai-based FRiENDI Group entered into a strategic partnership with Virgin Group, which saw the UK conglomerate combine its South Africa mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), Virgin Mobile South Africa (VMSA), into FRiENDI Group’s portfolio of MVNO operations. The creation of Virgin Mobile Middle East & Africa (VMMEA) resulted in the VMSA management reporting line being extended to VMMEA’s Dubai headquarters, from where operational and strategic direction has been rendered, and the results on the ground have been nothing short of exceptional

Anton Landman was appointed CEO of Virgin Mobile South Africa in July 2013, having previously been the company’s CFO

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Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) is to reverse a previously announced deal to sell a 25 per cent stake in its Monaco subsidiary to Batelco.

In its financial statement, CWC said that it has agreed to unwind the transaction announced with Batelco for a minority stake in the Monaco business and as a result the CMC minority shares purchased by Batelco will be transferred back to CWC for US$100 million – the same price it was sold for.

The company said that it is reviewing options for the business.

The related sale of operations in Maldives, the Channel Islands and Isle of Man, South Atlantic, Diego Garcia and the Seychelles are unaffected by the Monaco decision.

Commenting on the Group results, Tony Rice, CEO at CWC said "We have largely completed our disposal process, with the Seychelles transaction expected to complete this year. We have agreed to unwind the agreement we announced with Batelco for a minority stake in our Monaco business at the same time."

MTN Nigeria has signed managed services agreements with Ericsson and Huawei.

Under the terms of the contracts, Ericsson and Huawei will take over the management, optimisation and field maintenance of MTN’s network infrastructure in all its operational regions in the country.

MTN will retain ownership and full control of its network assets and continue to have responsibility for strategic design and planning, as well as equipment purchasing decisions.

Financial terms or the duration of the contact were not provided.