Nawras announced the successful completion of the first phase of the company’s extensive network turbocharging programme which includes the launch of 4G technology in Muscat.

Prepaid and post-paid price plans for the new 4G service start with downloads speeds of up to 10 Mbps with 7GB of data for OMR24 (US$62) per month, or 15GB of data for OMR34. Nawras Ajel post-paid customers also have the option of a richer data plan with 30GB and a faster download speed of up to 15 Mbps, for OMR49.

Wataniya Telecom has reported that its fourth-quarter revenues fell slightly to KD183.4 million (US$649 million), while net profit was down by 26 per cent to KD12.6 million.

The operator’s total customer base increased to 19.2 million at the close of 2012, up from 17.8 million at the same period in 2011, reflecting growth of 7.8 per cent.

Revenues for the full year reached KD 742.5 million, compared with KD 726.6 million in 2011, up 2.2 per cent.

Net profit for the full year fell to KD 75.5 million, down from KD 362.1 million in 2011. Net profit for 2011 was boosted by a one-off gain of KD 265.3 million due to revaluation of an existing held interest in Tunisiana following the increase in the shareholding from 50 per cent to 75 per cent.

Net profit for 2012 was also adversely impacted by various factors including competitive pressure in Kuwait, foreign exchange movements in Algeria and Tunisia and an impairment charge for a build-operate-transfer operation in 2012.

A preview of the open source code for the Ubuntu based smartphone operating system will be released on February 21, the developer Canonical has announced.

The source code for the Touch Developer Preview of Ubuntu will initially support the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4 smartphones.

Canonical said that the release is intended for enthusiasts and developers, to familiarise themselves with Ubuntu’s smartphone experience and develop applications on spare handsets. Tools that manage the flashing of the phone will be available on the same day in the Ubuntu archives, making it easy to keep a device up to date with the latest version of the Touch Developer Preview.

The release also marks the start of a new era for Ubuntu, with convergence between devices. When complete, the same Ubuntu code will deliver a mobile, tablet, desktop or TV experience depending on the device it is installed on, or where it is docked. Ubuntu 13.10 (due in October) will include a complete entry-level smartphone experience.

On Ubuntu, native and web or HTML5 applications sit as equal citizens and so those developers already developing HTML5 applications will easily gain support for Ubuntu.

Zain Group today reported that for the full-year 2012 the operator recorded consolidated revenues of KD 1.28 billion (US$4.58 billion), a decrease of three per cent compared to the 12 months in 2011. The company’s consolidated EBITDA decreased by five per cent for the year, reaching KD 570.7 million, and reflecting an EBITDA margin of 44.59 per cent.

Consolidated net income reached KD 252.1 million, representing an 11.5 per cent decrease year-on-year.

Zain Group’s consolidated customer base grew by six per cent and stood at 42.714 million active customers across all operations at the end of 2012. The group added 2.451 million new active customers during the year.

India’s number-three operator Reliance Communications (RCom) has awarded Ericsson an eight-year managed services contract worth US$1 billion.

The agreement will see Ericsson support wireless and fixed networks in north and west India, covering Delhi and Mumbai and a total of 11 telecom circles.

Ericsson will manage day-to-day operations and will be responsible for the maintenance and operational planning of RCom’s 2G, CDMA and 3G mobile networks.

Around 5,000 RCom employees will move to Ericsson as part of the agreement.

The integrated management provided by Ericsson should bring customer experience improvements, operational efficiencies and cost optimisation, and free up resources for RCom to focus on user experience and innovation.

RCom awarded a similar contract to Alcatel-Lucent in January, covering the southern and eastern regions of India.