Telecom Egypt will be allocated a mobile operator licence by the middle of next year, while the incumbent mobile networks will be allowed to provide landline services, the regulator has confirmed.

It has long been expected that Telecom Egypt – which owns a 45 per cent stake in Vodafone Egypt -would receive its own mobile licence, in exchange for allowing the mobile networks to resell Telecom Egypt’s landline services.

The mobile networks will not be permitted to build their own landline network under the draft proposals, so will still be dependent on the landline monopoly operator.

Also, Telecom Egypt won’t be granted any radio spectrum, so its licence will effectively limit it to being an MVNO, probably over the Vodafone network.

The regulator is moving towards converting all the country’s communications licences into unified telecom concessions that allow all companies to offer all services.

Huawei and Zain have announced the successful launch of a commercial LTE 1800 MHz network that covers the entire country of Kuwait. The network is the largest of its kind in the region.

Zain and Huawei expanded their LTE partnership after the successful deployment of GSM and UMTS networks in Kuwait. On November 21, Zain launched LTE services under the banner of “Wiyana Connect LTE”. The newly-built LTE network supports CSFB (circuit switched fall back) technology for voice over LTE (VoLTE) services. Download speeds in the field have now been shown to exceed 90 Mbps.

Zain has also partnered with Huawei to provide diversified LTE smart devices, including smart phones, routers, hotspot MiFi and dongles. Zain and Huawei’s partnership also includes agreements on various series of products, solutions, and services for terminal, radio access, core network operation and management.

UAE telco Du has agreed a five-year club debt facility for US$500 million to fund medium term capital expenditure. The club debt facility agreement amounts to financing over a period of five years at a 1.75 per cent margin over LIBOR.

Earlier in December the telco announced securing a US$100 million debt facility.

Ericsson said that taking full control of its ST-Ericsson joint venture is “not an option”, as it revealed it would record a charge of SEK8 billion (US$1.2 billion) related to this business.

Earlier this month ST Microelectronics, its partner in the company, said it plans to leave the loss-making partnership “after a transition period”.

Ericsson said that it will “continue to explore various strategic options for the future of ST-Ericsson assets”.

It also noted that its current best estimate is that the implementation of the strategic options at hand will require around SEK3 billion of Ericsson funding, the majority of which will be in 2013.

Ericsson reiterated that it believes the modem technology it contributed to the JV “has a strategic value for the wireless industry”. It also said that “a key priority in this process is a successful market introduction of the new LTE modems which Ericsson is certain will be very competitive and needed in the market”.

ST-Ericsson has been loss-making for some time, as it has struggled when migrating from legacy products to new silicon. It has also been hit by a slowdown at one of its key customers, widely believed to be Nokia.

ST-Ericsson announced a new strategy in April 2012, with Ericsson reiterating that the vendor is “in the middle of executing on [a] company transformation aiming at lowering its break-even point and introducing new technologies”.

Deutsche Telekom said that Rene Obermann, its CEO, is to stand down at the end of 2013, with his role to be filled by the company’s current CFO, Timotheus Hottges.

In a statement, Obermann said that “this is the right time to prepare to pass the baton and ensure a smooth transition”.

The international operator will appoint Hottges as its deputy CEO as of January 1, 2013, in addition to his current duties, before Hottges assumes the CEO position exactly a year later.

While Obermann has not detailed his reasons for departure, he said “I want to go back to having more time for customers, for product development and for technology”.

Hottges joined DT in 2000. He has held positions including CFO of T-Mobile Germany, CEO of T-Mobile Germany and chief sales and service officer of T-Mobile Europe, before moving into the company’s management board and taking over responsibility for its German fixed line operation.

As group CFO, he oversaw moves including the creation of Everything Everywhere in partnership with Orange, the settlement of Deutsche Telekom’s Polish ownership dispute, and the aborted sale of T-Mobile USA to AT&T – which “although not approved by regulators, did lead to the payment of a considerable break-up fee to Deutsche Telekom”.