Nokia has sold a majority stake in its luxury mobile phone subsidiary, Vertu, to the private equity group, EQT VI.

Vertu is headquartered in Church Crookham, UK and employs approximately 1,000 people worldwide.

The transaction, the terms of which are confidential, is expected to close during the second half of 2012, subject to customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions. Nokia will retain a 10 per cent minority shareholding in Vertu.

"With its strong brand, undisputed category leadership and attractive growth outlook, Vertu fits well with EQT VI’s investment strategy. EQT VI is excited about the opportunity to develop Vertu as a standalone company and plans to drive the development of the luxury mobile phone category through significant investments in retail expansion, marketing and product development," said Jan Ståhlberg, partner at EQT Partners, Investment Advisor to EQT VI.

Carlo Alloni has been appointed executive VP and head of operations for Ericsson in the Middle East region. In his new role, Alloni will oversee Ericsson’s operations throughout the Middle East; ensuring customer expectations are met by leveraging the company’s global knowledge network to enable the development of best practice tools and methods throughout the region.

Alloni had previously held the position of president, Ericsson North East Africa, to which he was appointed in 2010. An Italian national, Alloni joined Ericsson in 2001 where he held multiple positions in sales, managed services/business unit Global Services and business unit Networks in a number of Ericsson offices across the globe.

Huawei announced it has been selected by Telkom South Africa to deploy the company’s next-generation ultra-broadband network access.

Telkom, Africa’s largest integrated communications company, offers integrated communications solutions to both homes and enterprises in South Africa. To maintain its competitive advantage and further grow its market share, Telkom will migrate its fixed network to a fibre-based ultra-broadband network, thereby increasing its access bandwidth, and helping to address voice and data service challenges. Deployment of the countrywide network will involve four million users.

By employing Huawei’s SingleFAN solution, the network will achieve a downlink rate of up to 100 Mbps per user, providing enhanced products and services including voice, data, and IPTV.

Last month Comm. Reported how ZTE South Africa CEO Cris Fuentes said the company was terminating its relationship with local firm ZTE Mzanzi, in which it owns 40 per cent. ZTE Mzanzi successfully asked a court to stop Telkom from rolling out a ZAR 13 billion (US$1.59 billion) network upgrade that had been awarded to Huawei and Alcatel-Lucent.

ZTE Mzanzi believed Telkom’s bidding process was not fair and that its tender was never properly considered, despite complying with all of Telkom’s requirements, including those on empowerment and technical capability.

STC Group’s incoming CEO, Khaled bin Abdulaziz Al Ghuniem, is now just a few days off assuming his role officially on June 18.

Al Ghuniem is considered one of the most experienced corporate managers in Saudi, where he has held various senior positions. Prior to being appointed to lead STC Group, he was the chief executive officer of Al-Elm Information Security Company.

Al Ghuniem has also been engaged as a full time consultant for the Defense and Aviation ministry, as well as an associate professor at the Faculty of Computer and Information Sciences at King Saud University. He is a member of the board of directors of various Saudi companies and associations.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from King Saud University, and both a Masters and PHD degree in Electric and Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University in the US.

Afghanistan based mobile network, Roshan today announced it has surpassed six million active subscribers less than one year after the company became the country’s first operator to cross the five million mark.

The company said that it has also experienced significant growth in non-voice services and, in particular, in providing data products to its customers.

Since inception in 2003, Roshan has invested more than US$550 million in network infrastructure and now reaches 60 per cent of the population in Afghanistan.