The chief executive of Wataniya, Kuwait’s No. 2 telecoms operator, has resigned, parent company Qatar Telecom (Qtel) said.

Qtel announced that Scott Gegenheimer left to "pursue other opportunities" and his deputy Abdulaziz Fakhroo has been promoted to acting chief executive.

Gegenheimer joined Wataniya in 2002 and became CEO in 2008.

Fakhroo was appointed deputy chief executive earlier this year.

Qtel owns a 52.5 per cent stake in Wataniya, which in turn has operations in Kuwait, Tunisia, Algeria, the Palestinian Territories, Saudi Arabia and the Maldives.

The operator reported a 90-per cent drop in first-quarter net profit for Q112, with earnings from the prior-year period boosted by a one-off fair value gain.

The Middle East’s pre-eminent MVNO, Friendi Group has agreed to merge operations with Virgin Mobile South Africa, with the combined entity set to pursue opportunities across the Middle East and Africa. Such a tie-up will be the ultimate litmus test as to whether a hereto underperforming business model can find wide scale success in the region

Branson attending the ill-fated launch of Virgin Mobile in Qatar in 2010

Continue reading →

Nokia’s share price saw its biggest rise since January 5 on June 8 amid renewed speculation that the company could be subject to a takeover bid, reports Bloomberg. The handset manufacturer’s stock price rose by six per cent to close at €2.36 (US$2.96) in Helsinki last week, with Exane BNP Paribas saying in a note that Microsoft could be a potential acquirer.

Swedbank Markets analyst Haakan Wranne told Bloomberg that with Nokia’s stock trading at just over €2.00, “it’s obvious that there is more value than that in the assets” – making it understandable that takeover rumours make its stock jump. However, Canaccord Genuity analyst Bo Nordberg said Nokia is not a “particularly compelling” proposition and that the analyst community is “quite sceptical” about the company’s outlook.

Prior to last week’s increase, Nokia’s share price had declined by 41 per cent since the beginning of the year, while Samsung overtook the company in the first quarter of the year to become the world’s largest handset maker.

Nokia has been struggling to compete in the smartphone arena but is pinning its hopes on the tie-up with Microsoft to use Windows Phone, announced in February 2011. The first Windows Phone Lumia devices were announced in October, with several new models having arrived since.

Nokia reported a €929 million loss for Q1 on total sales of €7.4 billion, down 29 per cent on the same period a year earlier. In response to the results, CEO Stephen Elop said the company has a “clear sense of urgency to move our strategy forward even faster” with cost savings in the Devices & Services division a priority.

UAE telco Du has confirmed that it will be launching its LTE service in July, although the company did not offer any details about what tariffs it is planning to offer.

The operator completed its first LTE pilot trials in April 2011. Coverage is expected to reach just under 28 per cent of the population of the country.

"Du is focusing more on the data than the voice," the telco’s chief commercial officer Farid Faraidooni told Gulf News. "We are investing heavily on infrastructure for mobile broadband customers."

The LTE network will operate in the 1800MHz spectrum band.

The LTE launch comes after Du’s launch of 42 Mbps mobile broadband services, currently the fastest in the country, after having upgraded its network to DC-HSPA+ technology.

Telefonica has sold almost half its stake in China Unicom back to the Chinese operator in a deal worth US$1.4 billion.

The Spanish-based operator said in a regulatory filing that the sale "forms part of the proactive management of its asset portfolio." However, it also appears linked to efforts by the operator to raise funds to pay-down debt and protect against the effects of the deepening Eurozone crisis, which led to an EU bailout package for the Spanish banks over the weekend.

Telefonica’s stake in the Chinese number-two operator falls to 5.01 per cent, from 9.57 per cent previously. The deal is expected to close in July, subject to regulatory approval.

Telefonica said it remains committed to the market in China, while its chairman, César Alierta, will retain his position as a Unicom director.

The Chinese deal follows an announcement that Telefonica plans to sell-off assets in German and Latin America.

The firm said at the time it is “accelerating the disposal process of non-core assets” in order to “increase its financial flexibility” and maintain “an attractive remuneration for its shareholders.”

Telefonica’s market value has slumped by almost €50 billion (US$63 billion) over the last 18 months and the firm had net debt of €57.1 billion at the end of March.