Nigeria’s Globacom is reported to have awarded a US$500 million network upgrade contract to ZTE, just days after it handed a US$750 million contract to Huawei.

The ZTE contract is for works that are to be carried out in just four months.

Globacom’s group COO, Mohamed Jameel said that the expansion project will involve network upgrade and overhaul of infrastructure across the country as well as expansion and densification projects.

The TDM network will also be upgraded to a fully integrated Generalised Multi-protocol Label Switching (GMPLS).

Part of the upgrade will include installation of new base stations and densification of existing ones; setting up of three new mini call centres and upgrade of the radio access network.

The contract signing comes just after the mobile network secured a loan syndication agreement to fund network upgrades.

Zain Saudi Arabia has secured an extension on the maturity of US$3 billion worth of loans, although for just another five weeks.

The extension applies to two tranches of debt – the largest being a US$2.4 billion Islamic loan that was originally due to be repaid in 2011 but has been repeatedly extended.

The company also secured an extension on a separate US$600 million loan that was due to be repaid this week.

Zain Saudi Arabia said in a stock-market statement that it will use the new extension to try and secure fresh loans with a five-year maturity.

Zain Group owns a 37 per cent stake in the Saudi operator.

Alcatel-Lucent reported first-quarter revenues that rose by 0.6 per cent to €3.23 billion (US$4.23 billion), but dropped back into a loss of €353 million, compared to a profit of €259 million a year ago.

This included restructuring charges of €122 million and a financial loss of €152 million.

Gross margin came in at 29.4 per cent of revenue for the quarter, compared to 30.2 per cent in the year ago quarter and 30.4 per cent in the fourth quarter 2012. The year-over-year decline in gross margin mainly results from unfavourable product mix.

Alcatel-Lucent’s new CEO, Michel Combes, commented: "Alcatel-Lucent’s first quarter results reflect both encouraging trends in the marketplace and good progress with The Performance Program, for which discipline on execution remains the priority in 2013."

In terms of revenues, Networks & Platforms grew six per cent year-on-year with high single digit growth in IP and good traction in Wireless, Fixed networks, Platforms and Services, all partially offset by a double-digit decline in Optics.

Focused Businesses declined at a double-digit rate compared to the year ago quarter, with Enterprise at a mid-single digit rate and Submarine at a faster pace.

From a geographic standpoint, also adjusted for constant currency and compared to the year ago period, North America reached historical highs as a percentage of total revenues (48 per cent), resulting from strong growth in the region. While Japan showed good traction and China stabilised, the Asia Pacific region declined at a low single digit rate. Cautious spending persisted in Europe, which declined at a rate of 10 per cent. Rest of world declined at 10 per cent, where growth in Brazil was offset by weakness in the rest of Central and Latin America and Middle East and Africa.

Nawras today reported that revenues for Q113 were up by three per cent year-on-year to OMR 48.2 million (US$125.4 million). The operator attributed the growth to the increases in both fixed and mobile data revenue as well as international voice revenue offset by a decrease in SMS and national voice revenue.

EBITDA for Q113 was OMR23.2 million, down from OMR24.2 million in Q112. Net profit for the quarter was OMR 7.7 million, down 21.4 per cent year-on-year, with the operator explaining that net profit was affected by higher depreciation due to network modernisation.

Total customer numbers grew by12.3 per cent in the quarter to 2.23 million.

The fixed service customer base increased by 57 per cent to 51,532 customers, while the mobile post-paid customer base grew by 5.9 per cent to 182,090 customers. Mobile prepaid customers increased by 12.2 per cent to two million.

Etisalat Group announced today that it has submitted a binding offer to acquire Vivendi’s total stake in Maroc Telecom representing approximately 53 per cent of the capital and voting rights. In January 2013, Etisalat submitted an expression of interest followed by a due diligence of the target’s assets that was completed before making a decision to submit a binding offer.

Market regulations in Morocco will require Etisalat to make a mandatory tender offer to the minority shareholders, and consequently Etisalat may end up acquiring more than the 53 per cent stake offered by Vivendi.

Maroc Telecom is a publicly listed company on both Casablanca and Euronext – Paris stock exchanges. It is the leading telecom operator in the country having controlling stakes in four other telecom operators in West Africa. Etisalat firmly believes that Maroc Telecom fits within its international expansion strategy and would complement its existing West African portfolio.