Airtel, the largest telecom network in the Democratic Republic of Congo, reconfirmed that more than US$1 billion has already been invested in the network over the years, and the operator plans to invest a further US$ 615 million over the next three years.

Airtel’s network covers 60 per cent of the Congolese population and the company has also expressed willingness to take up a 25 per cent participation of a company to be established to manage the optical fibre network in the country.

Vodafone has unveiled a new self-branded budget smartphone, which it claims “offers an unprecedented combination of high performance and low cost in a package attractive to the large majority of consumers currently missing out on the smartphone revolution.”

The Vodafone Smart II will launch initially in the UK costing £70 (US$108), and will be launched in other Vodafone markets and partner markets this summer priced under €99 (US$123).

The Android-based device has a HGVA capacitive touchscreen, a 3.2MP camera, an 832MHz processor and 512MB of RAM – a feature set that would have made the device a high-end smartphone three years ago, the operator claims.

"The Smart II is one of the most important devices we have ever introduced," said Patrick Chomet, Vodafone’s Group Terminals Director. "We believe the Smart II could represent a tipping point in the evolution of the market, bringing a new wave of consumers to the supermobile world for the first time."

Qtel and United Development Company (UDC), master developer of The Pearl-Qatar, today signed an agreement that will see Qtel acquire the full communications infrastructure of The Pearl-Qatar, which was previously wholly-owned by UDC.

Qtel will own and operate the network, enabling residents to enjoy voice, high-speed broadband Internet and Mozaic TV entertainment services in their homes and offices.

The Pearl-Qatar is an urban development in Doha. It incorporates private and modern living on an Island spanning over four million square-metres of land, offering a tailored range of residential solutions. Developed by UDC, the island is located 350 metres offshore of Doha’s prestigious West Bay District and is one of the largest real-estate developments in the Gulf.

Research In Motion (RIM) president and CEO Thorsten Heins said the company is likely to report an operating loss for its next financial quarter, ending June 2, with “lower volumes and highly competitive pricing dynamics in the marketplace” impacting the business.

Heins reiterated that RIM is undergoing a “significant transformation” as it moved towards the launch of the new BlackBerry 10 OS meaning “financial performance will continue to be challenging for the next few quarters."

Heins made the comments during a business update, which is part of his previous pledge to provide “candid and timely updates when possible on the progress and challenges RIM is experiencing."

RIM’s well-documented struggles saw it report a profit of US$1.2 billion for the year ended March 3, 2012, down from US$3.4 billion in the prior-year period. This was on revenue of US$18.4 billion, down from US$19.9 billion. RIM’s Q1 financial results for quarter ending will be published on June 28.

Heins confirmed that the company has enlisted JP Morgan and RMB Capital Markets to help it evaluate various financial strategies, including “opportunities to leverage the BlackBerry platform through partnerships, licensing opportunities and strategic business model alternatives."

RIM is continuing to be “aggressive” as it competes for both enterprise and consumer customers, according to Heins, with its development team "working hard to provide cost-competitive, feature-rich solutions to our global customer base."

The company’s cost optimisation and resource efficiency programme, aimed at achieving US$1 billion in savings by the end of fiscal 2013, will continue to review RIM’s organisational structure and business processes.

Positive areas highlighted by the RIM CEO included encouraging responses to previews of BlackBerry 10 at the recent BlackBerry World conference and the global subscriber base rising to 78 million during the period, with international markets being the main driver for growth. However, this was partially offset by higher churn in the US.

USA cellco Sprint announced plans to migrate its business and government customers from its iDEN based Nextel network onto the Direct Connect platform – its CDMA based push to talk service.

Sprint also announced that it plans to cease service on the iDEN Nextel national network as early as June 30, 2013 as part of its Network Vision plan – a series of network updates designed to offer next generation network capabilities to customers.

Sprint will send written notices to business and government customers from next month regarding the iDEN network shutdown. Additional notices are planned for distribution to the iDEN base multiple times over the next year as the shutdown of the iDEN network becomes more imminent.

Sprint’s CDMA based Direct Connect coverage is expected to broaden throughout 2012.

The company is currently carrying out a plan to consolidate multiple network technologies into one seamless network. Network Vision is expected to add net economic value for Sprint from reduced roaming costs, cell site reduction, backhaul efficiencies, more efficient use of capital, and energy costs savings.

Sprint anticipates that the iDEN network push to talk functionality will become inoperable as early as June 30, 2013; however, Sprint CDMA voice and data services on PowerSource devices (dual mode iDEN and CDMA devices) will still be available. The company has already discontinued selling iDEN devices in certain channels. It will discontinue selling iDEN devices in all channels and all brands carrying iDEN Nextel products over the next several months.

iDEN technology has had light exposure in the Middle East, having primarily been rolled out in Saudi Arabia and Jordan. The Jordanian operation, which was branded Xpress, is no longer operational, brought down by difficulties related more to the business case and strategy adopted by the operator’s owners and management.