The Egyptian government is reported to be again looking at the possibility of awarding a fourth mobile licence in the country, although no decision is expected until early next year.

The telecom minister, Hany Mahmoud told Reuters that the government could issue a new licence, or may work with incumbent networks to improve services.

"We are studying the whole telecommunications market and what we need exactly. Is it a new player or distributing things into the different players we have now? It’s not clear yet and it will be finalised in the first quarter of next year," Mahmoud said.

A new chairman was recently appointed at state-owned Telecom Egypt, with a mandate to shake up the landline operator, which also owns a 44.8 per cent stake in Vodafone Egypt. There have long been suggestions that Telecom Egypt would like its own mobile licence, although it would probably then have to sell its stake in Vodafone Egypt.

Ericsson reports to have won a network upgrade contract from Omantel to build the operator’s LTE network and transform Omantel’s Radio Access Network (RAN).

The agreement also marks the beginning of a new managed services partnership between the two companies, in which Ericsson provided Omantel its assurance of operational efficiency and improved network quality.

Ericsson is currently Omantel’s sole packet core vendor for both 2G and 3G data services.

Financial details of the latest contract were not disclosed.

Mobile chipmaker ST-Ericsson has released a statement admitting it is “currently working with an external advisor in order to ensure the best possible future” for the firm. The move was a response to a report earlier in Les Echos, which specifically named JP Morgan as the partner.

ST-Ericsson’s statement continued: “Both STMicroelectronics and Ericsson support ST-Ericsson in its transformation work and remain confident that the company has a strategic position in the industry to enable the device ecosystem.”

The statement referenced the company’s new "strategic plan” that was announced in April, insisting that the vendor “is in the middle of executing on company transformation aiming at lowering its break-even point.”

The Les Echos report claimed one scenario would see the venture sold in blocks related to specific technologies such as connectivity, power management and software architecture. Other pieces of the business could be shifted back into the parent companies, the paper said. The French report expects a decision to be made before the end of this year.

ST-Ericsson is a 50/50 joint venture between Ericsson and STMicroelectronics. Its poor financial health has made it a long-running target for media speculation surrounding its future. In March it was suggested that companies such as AMD, Nvidia, Intel and Texas Instruments see the value in ST-Ericsson, as a tool to rival Qualcomm in the mobile space.

In July ST-Ericsson announced a second quarter loss of US$318 million, compared with a Q2 2011 loss of US$221 million, on revenue of US$344 million, down from US$385 million.

Chinese telecom vendors Huawei and ZTE should not be allowed to operate in the US due to potential links with the Chinese state, according to a draft report from the House of Representatives’ Intelligence Committee seen by Reuters.

The committee said the companies cannot be trusted to avoid influence from the Chinese state and pose a potential risk to the US following an 11-month investigation. Both companies were criticised in the unclassified report for failing to provide sufficient information about formal relationships and regulatory interaction with the Chinese state that would allay the concerns.

The committee warned potential customers to seek other vendors for their projects and urged the US intelligence service to inform the private sector about the potential espionage threat. The body is also seeking to block any mergers of acquisitions involving the firms in the US.

Allegations have been made by industry experts and Huawei employees, past and present, that the company could be guilty of bribery, corruption, discrimination and copyright infringement. The committee will refer these allegations to the Justice Department, Homeland Security, and other US government bodies.

Both companies denied the accusations in September that their equipment had been installed with code to allow sensitive information to be sent back to China, according to a BBC report. Senior executives from both companies made the statements in front of a House Intelligence Committee.

Committee chairman Mike Rogers said that there had been reports of ‘backdoors’ and unexplained beaconing – a process in which networks self-repair – from equipment sold by the two companies.
The report comes as Huawei reportedly considers an IPO in an effort to overcome suspicions that have hindered its efforts to gain a foothold in the US market so far.

Zain Group has revealed that it is currently working on establishing a regional data network, which will be directed by a new wholly-owned subsidiary company, Zain Group Wholesale.

Speaking at a conference in Dubai last week, Zain Group Deputy CEO and COO, Hisham Akbar outlined the thinking behind the formation of Zain Group’s latest operation, which is set to offer wholesale voice and data services, leveraging Zain’s facilities based license in addition to its Internet Service Provider (ISP) credentials and access to spectrum.

Akbar spoke of how Zain has decided to exploit its wireless technology leadership, coverage and licensed countries of operation to their maximum potential and that Zain Group Wholesale will enjoy a quick start given the presence of already significant organic traffic from existing Zain customers.

Speaking at the conference, Akbar commented: “Zain Group Wholesale allows us to leverage our existing competencies and assets while at the same time giving our customer base access to additional voice and data services.”

Akbar continued: “From being a user of third-party fibre, Zain is moving to acquire and participate in fibre facilities construction, which will further bolster the services and products that can be offered by Zain Group Wholesale. Zain Group has also started concluding arrangements by which it will be able to deliver over-the-top (OTT)-type services to consumers on their mobile devices.”

As broadband traffic continues to grow at exponential rates across the region Zain Group believes its wholesale strategy will help answer and cater to this market trend, complementing and enhancing the operator’s existing strategy.