Zain Group has announced the appointment of Kuwaiti national, Eaman Al Roudhan as CEO of Zain Kuwait, the Group’s flagship and most profitable operation, effective December 1, 2015. Al Roudhan will succeed Omar Al Omar who will return to Zain Group in a senior advisory role supporting the Zain Group CEO in transforming the company into an integrated digital lifestyle operator.

Al Roudhan brings over 20 years of experience to the position, 18 years of which have been spent in various executive management and leadership roles within Zain Kuwait as well as several Zain Group affiliates. Prior to her new appointment, Al Roudhan was the chief regulatory officer of Zain Group.

Al Roudhan is a member of a number of international standards and regulatory affairs bodies such as the GSMA Arab World regional interest group and the GSMA Chief Regulatory Officer Group (CROG).

Mobile virtual network operator Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa (VMMEA) has announced the milestone of now serving over one million subscribers in Saudi Arabia, which was achieved within a year of commercial launch of the operations in October 2014.

VMMEA was the first full-licensed MVNO to market in Saudi Arabia, and is targeting a regional customer base of over 10 million subscribers within five years. The company also operates in South Africa, Oman, Jordan, and Malaysia.

Ooredoo Group and Nokia have signed a major framework agreement in Doha to support Ooredoo’s long-term development strategy across its footprint in the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia. Under the five-year contract, Nokia will provide advanced mobile broadband technologies and professional services to help Ooredoo Group ensure superior 2G, 3G, 4G and LTE-A networks to offer advanced voice and data services for its customers across its range of mature and emerging markets.

In the renewed agreement, the terms and conditions have been revised to include global best practices in terms of delivery and technology for the benefit of both companies.

In Qatar, Ooredoo has recently deployed Nokia Networks’ high-capacity small cells, which will enhance its 3G and 4G network for a better customer experience.

Last year Zain Group established the Zain Digital Frontier and Innovation (ZDFI) business unit, which is charged with expanding the reach of the group into the digital space, and developing new innovative businesses and income streams.  Emre Gurkan, the company chief strategy and business development officer, addresses the opportunities that the advent of smart cities, IoT and M2M will present and Zain’s role in the emerging ecosystem

Emre Gurkan is Zain Group’s chief strategy and business development officer

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Afrimax Group has secured US$120 million of funding from a group of global investors, as it looks to expand the rollout of LTE networks across sub-Saharan Africa.

Netherlands-based Afrimax, which last year struck an agreement with Vodafone to boost the company’s African presence, owns TD-LTE spectrum covering 12 countries across the continent.

More recently, it launched Vodafone Uganda, which will offer services over a new 4G network as well as 2G and 3G services on existing infrastructure, through a Partners Market agreement with Vodafone.

Vodacom, in which Vodafone is the majority shareholder, is a more commonly known brand in sub Saharan Africa but the service in Uganda is targeted at the multinational enterprise market for whom Vodafone presumably has more resonance.

Afrimax also reportedly has deployments in Tanzania and the DRC. It said in a statement it is “building the largest portfolio of 4G wireless broadband networks across sub-Saharan Africa”.

Vodacom operates in both Tanzania and DRC but Afrimax presumably avoids competition by targeting multinational users.

The latest funding, led by Japanese financial company Mitsui, brings together a number of other private investors including Spain’s Torreal, and existing shareholders Four G Capital, and the IFC, which is part of the World Bank Group.

Smile Telecoms, another private mobile and Internet company operating in Africa, announced raising US$365 million in funding to boost its LTE network last week.