Bharti Airtel says that it has increased its stake in its Nigerian subsidiary after buying 13.36 per cent of additional shares from unnamed sellers.

"Bharti Airtel Ltd has announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Bharti Airtel Nigeria B.V., has acquired an additional (around) 13.36 equity stake in Airtel Networks Ltd, Nigeria from certain existing shareholders," Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

Airtel now owns 79.06 per cent of the Nigerian mobile network.

Financial details were not disclosed.

However, Airtel still faces challenges over a five per cent stake claimed by Econet Wireless in Airtel Nigeria, and ratified by an international arbitration tribunal and Nigerian court.

Ericsson and STMicroelectronics are struggling to find buyers for their beleaguered ST-Ericsson joint venture. According to Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources, the two companies have been trying to sell the wireless chip business for three months.

Samsung Electronics was among the potential buyers approached, says the report, but the South Korean manufacturer declined to make an offer.

ST-Ericsson has endured a torrid time since the joint venture was formed in 2008, racking up enormous losses for its parent companies. The company has struggled to compete with semiconductor rivals from the US and Asia in the smartphone and tablet markets, and has also been impacted by weakness at its most important customers.

Earlier this week, chief executive Didier Lamouche announced his decision to leave the company.

Some analysts have interpreted his departure as a sign that sales talks have not been going well.

STMicroelectronics announced its intention to leave the joint venture last December, while Ericsson has reportedly no interest in fully owning the business. If a buyer can’t be found, then winding down ST-Ericsson might well be the favoured option.

There is some speculation, too, that the French government might step in with a bail out.

STMicroelectronics is 27.5 per cent owned by the French and Italian governments, and Francois Holland, France’s socialist president, had previously voiced concerns over job losses at ST-Ericsson under cost-saving plans laid out by Lamouche.

ST-Ericsson employs about 1,200 people in France.

ST-Ericsson made an operating loss of SEK11.7 billion (US$1.84 billion) during 2012, nearly five times the loss racked up the previous year (SEK2.7 billion).

At an event in Qatar last night, Qatar Telecom officially rebranded as Ooredoo.

More than 2,000 people attended the event, and the launch of the new brand was celebrated by a multimedia and theatrical experience about the transformation into Ooredoo, representing the next step in the group’s evolution.

In 2012, Ooredoo rolled out its fibre network and launched business services like cloud and mobile money. Currently the company is preparing its 4G LTE mobile broadband network for commercial launch.

The rebranding will emphasise the company’s core commitment to its customers and proud Qatari values, of caring; connecting; and challenging. It has been designed to take the company to the next level and making Qatar one of the best-connected countries in the world, in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030.

Qtel Qatar is the first in the group’s portfolio to take on the new brand.

Kuwait cellco Wataniya Telecom today announced an agreement that will see Ericsson transform Wataniya Telecom’s network with an upgraded radio access network. This will allow higher network speeds and meet the growing demand for 3G services and strengthen the on-going partnership between the two.

The transformation will also accelerate the delivery of rich, advanced voice, data and multimedia services to Wataniya’s subscribers and prepare the network for future mobile-data growth created by the strong uptake of smartphones and other handheld data-enabled devices.

With the new contract – which represents the largest Ericsson has signed to date in Kuwait – the company will expand its relationship with Wataniya by transforming existing 2G and 3G networks, as well as adding WCDMA/HSPA capability on 900MHz and LTE capability on the 1800MHz band.

Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa (VMMEA) today announced that Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC) will invest US$50 million in the MVNO, securing the investment company a significant minority stake.

VMMEA is the leading MVNO in the MEA region, while GIC is a leading financial institution equally and wholly owned by the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

Following the conclusion of the transaction, GIC and the Virgin Group will be the two largest single shareholders in VMMEA, alongside prominent global and regional shareholders including, ePlanet Capital, Dolphin International, NTEC and Millennium Private Equity.

In June 2012, Virgin Group and Friendi Group announced the signing of a strategic partnership agreement for the Middle East and Africa, which led to the two groups merging their regional telecom operations, creating the combined entity VMMEA.

The signing ceremony at the Virgin Group headquarters in London, sitting down form left-to-right: Peter Langkilde (chairman, VMMEA), Mikkel Vinter (CEO & founder, VMMEA), Shafic Ali (director Principal Investment, GIC) and Peter Stephens (Partner and Global Head for Telecoms & Media Investments, Virgin Group). Standing up form left-to-right: Fahad Al-Nusef (VP for Technology & Telecom Investments, GIC) and Mohamed Eissa (head of Technology & Telecom Investments, GIC)