At the beginning of July it was officially confirmed that Siemens had sold its 50 per cent stake in Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) for €1.7 billion (US$2.2 billion) to its joint venture partner, Nokia. Siemens had long since been looking to exit the telecom technology provider, and under the sole ownership of Nokia the questions that are now likely to be raised first relate to whether NSN will be able to successfully continue along its strategic path to becoming the world’s leading mobile broadband technology specialist

Nokia interim CEO, Risto Siilasmaa is believed to have already begun internal discussions on future strategy and the implications for NSN

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Huawei expects to generate at least US$2 billion in revenues from selling LTE equipment this year thanks to on-going network upgrades.

Huawei, and local rival, ZTE secured about half of China Mobile’s initial US$3.2 billion 4G deployment contract, with a second similar sized contract expected to be awarded next year.

Peter Zhou, executive vice president for the LTE business unit at Huawei told the Reuters news agency that the cost of smartphones would have to fall though before the technology can become a mainstream service.

"The price of LTE smartphones is still higher than those without LTE technology. This is normal," he said. "We foresee that around 2015, a multi-mode smartphone, which includes LTE, will be very similar or equal to the price of a (usual) smartphone."

Saudi Arabia’s Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) plans to spend SAR22 billion (US$5.9 billion) over the next five years upgrading its network, the company’s CEO has said.

Khalid Al Kaf told a local newspaper that the company has invested around SAR4 billion-SAR4.5 billion per year since it was set up in 2004.

Mobily currently covers 92 per cent of the Kingdom’s areas with 3G services and 45 cities with its LTE network.

According to Al-Kaf, Mobily retains more than 40 per cent of the Kingdom’s mobile market share.

He added that the country could absorb a fourth telecom operator if the regulator were to licence one.

The Libyan government says that it plans to list one of its two state-owned mobile networks on the stock market next year.

The government-owned Libyan Post, Telecommunication and Information Technology Co (LPTIC) owns the country’s two mobile operators Al Madar and Libyana.

Libyana has a market share of around 70 per cent, and is seen as the most likely candidate for listing on the Tripoli stock exchange around the second quarter of next year.

"This is a company we want to do an IPO for hopefully next year," Faisal Gergarb, LPTIC chairman told the Reuters news agency.

The government has already announced plans to issue a tender for a third mobile operator licence to a foreign investor to shake up the market.

The Oman government is taking a second look at reducing its stake in the local telco, Omantel.

The government has said that it plans to sell a 19 per cent stake in the company, which is less than the aborted attempt to sell 25 per cent back in 2008. That sale was cancelled following the global banking crisis.

Following the latest announcement, the company’s share price fell by nearly six per cent, wiping out all the gains made this year.

Omantel is worth around US$3.1 billion, so the government should end up with nearly US$600 million from its share sale.

Following the sale, the government will reduce its stake from 70 per cent to 51 per cent.