Batelco’s shareholders have approved the acquisition of Cable & Wireless Communications’ (CWC) ‘Monaco and Islands’ unit, paving the way for the Bahraini operator to expand into several new markets.

Shareholders have backed the proposed acquisition of the CWC networks in the Maldives, Channel Islands and Isle of Man, the Seychelles, South Atlantic and Diego Garcia as well as a 25 per cent shareholding in Compagnie Monagesque de Communications (CMC), which holds CWC’s 55 per cent interest in Monaco Telecom.

The pair have also entered into a ‘put and call’ deal allowing CWC to sell Batelco the remaining 75 per cent interest in CMC within the next 12 months.

The transaction is valued at US$680 million with the additional CMC stake expected to cost an extra US$345 million.

Batelco is already present in six markets in the Middle East, and the deal will expand its presence to a further 17 – albeit tiny – new markets.

“This transaction is expected to be accretive to the underlying earnings of Batelco Group from the outset, and we are confident that we will be able to enhance value for our shareholders through the benefits derived from greater diversification, added scale and expertise, and the combined market leadership Batelco and the companies we are acquiring already enjoy in their respective markets,” said Batelco Group chairman, Sheikh Hamad Bin Abdulla Al Khalifa.

The acquisition was approved by CWC’s shareholders last week, but remains subject to regulatory approvals.

Sanjay Kapoor, chief executive of Bharti Airtel’s key Indian and South Asia unit, is to leave the operator at the end of February.

Kapoor – who has served 15-years at India’s largest mobile operator – gave no reason for his departure after three years in charge of the firm’s operations in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Gopal Vittal, currently group director of special projects, will take over as the company’s India CEO, effective March 1, the company said in a statement. He will report to Bharti Airtel’s chairman and MD Sunil Mittal.

“[Vittal] has a wealth of experience in assimilating the consumer mindset, managing operations efficiently, winning with the customer, building brand and innovating to secure market leadership,” said Mittal.

Batelco has indicated that it may make another attempt to enter the Indian market less than a year after it sold its previous investment in the country.

In 2009, the company bought just under half of the newly licensed Indian network, STel for US$225 million, though the mobile network subsequently had its licences cancelled last.

Late in 2012, Batelco sold its stake in STel for US$174.5 million to its Indian partner, Sky City Foundation, although it is now suing the company for non-payment.

"India is an attractive telecom market due to its size, growth potential and opportunity to launch many innovative services," Batelco’s CEO, Sheikh Mohamed Bin Isa Al Khalifa said. "Potential opportunities in India remain on our agenda [and] Batelco is interested in investing in existing operators." he added.

Saudi Arabia’s Mobily is reported to have awarded contracts worth US$256 million to Ericsson and Huawei to expand its mobile network coverage.

In statements sent to some news organisations, but not confirmed on its own news service, Mobily said it had awarded a contract for SR563 million (US$150 million) to Ericsson and another for SR400 million to Huawei.

The works from the contracts are due to be completed by the end of this year.

Mobily currently covers more than 96 per cent of the Kingdom with a 3G network while LTE coverage is available in 33 cities.

Orange has signed a strategic partnership – on an exclusive basis – with Baidu, the Chinese Internet company, to develop a co-branded Internet browser for smartphone customers in Africa, the Middle East and Asia (AMEA). The partnership marks the first time Baidu has signed such an agreement with a global operator, and supports Orange and Baidu’s aim to make the mobile web available for all in emerging markets. 

Orange, which has a mobile customer base in AMEA of nearly 80 million customers, has continued to see its smartphone user base in AMEA increasing, for example the demand for Android devices in Egypt doubled in H2 2012.

The new Orange and Baidu browser offers a highly customisable but simple interface for customers in AMEA, enabling them to access web-based apps and Internet services unique to Baidu and Orange, as well as services like Wikipedia, Facebook or Twitter, amongst others. Customers benefit from a new, feature rich user interface that provides one-click access to all of their preferred local and global services but also benefit from a browser that is much faster and more data efficient compared to other browsers, reducing the amount of data consumed by 30-90 per cent depending on the types of services and files accessed.

Orange and Baidu have already developed Arabic and English versions of the browser, with Mobinil having already launched such, and the companies are now working to launch French versions of the browser for countries across Orange’s African & Middle East footprint.