Orascom Telecom has lost its appeal against a US$1.3 billion fine imposed by the Algerian Courts, although the jail sentences against a senior director has been overturned.

The Algerian Court of Appeal confirmed the judgement handed down by the Algerian Court of First Instance on March 28, 2012 against Orascom Telecom’s subsidiary in Algeria, Orascom Telecom Algerie (OTA).

The judgement relates to a previously disclosed claim brought in 2010 by the Algerian authorities alleging breaches of foreign exchange regulations.

OTA maintains that together with its senior executive the company has acted in compliance with the law and OTA is taking the necessary steps to file an appeal with the Algerian Supreme Court.

The lodging of the appeal should provisionally suspend the judgement.

Canada’s Research In Motion is reported to be planning job cuts of up to 2,000 personnel out of its 16,500 worldwide staff.

A person familiar with the company’s plans told a newspaper in Canada that the layoffs may cut even deeper than that. The redundancies are expected to be announced just before the company announces its financial results on the June 2.

The company has already cut its staff from a peak of 20,000. Since the emergence of the Apple and Android products, the company has struggled to retain market share and has lost several executives, as well as making redundancies across the company.

The company has not commented officially on the latest media reports.

Econet Wireless says it has secured a US$362 million loan facility to finance network upgrades, and that 70 per cent of the funding will be spent in its Zimbabwean subsidiary.

A total of US$307 million will be spent in Zimbabwe, of which US$225 million will be used to refinance short-term local loans with cheaper long term loans. The rest will go towards further network upgrades and developing non-voice value added services.

The loan facility was arranged by banks in Germany, France, China, Netherlands, South Africa and Sweden.

Econet is also expected this year to introduce new solar products including one called Home Power Station it introduced last year through its subsidiary, Econet Solar.

Earlier this year, a court in Nigeria upheld Econet Wireless’ five per cent claim to Airtel Nigeria, a cellco to which it was a founding shareholder in 2001. The court sided with the Zimbabwe operator that its stake had been unfairly cancelled, and any decisions since the cancellation are void.

Econet went on to say it is seeking at least US$3.1 billion in damages the dispute.

MTN Afghanistan has signed a managed services agreement with Ericsson to operate and optimise its mobile network as well as its charging systems and value added services such as mobile applications. The deal is part of an agreement that covers end-to-end managed services.

Under the managed services agreement, Ericsson will deploy its end-to-end solutions and systems to help MTN in Afghanistan achieve better network efficiency, simplify operations and ensure better quality network through 24/7 network monitoring. The agreement is in line with MTN’s growth strategy and its continuous focus to enhance customer experience through improved network capacity.

Ericsson signed more than 70 managed services contracts in 2011 and manages networks that together serve more than 900 million subscribers worldwide. More than 20,000 employees have been transferred to Ericsson from operators around the world.

South Africa based mobile operator, Cell C is reported to have received a cash injection of US$180 million from its majority shareholder, Dubai-based Oger Telecom.

In a statement sent to local media, Cell C’s CEO Alan Knott-Craig said: "This foreign investment into SA demonstrates the confidence our shareholders have in both South Africa and Cell C."

Local news publication, TechCentral said that it understands that Cell C’s black economic empowerment shareholder, CellSAf, which own 25 per cent of the company, is not contributing equity alongside Oger’s investment.

The cash injection is reported not to be set to reduce the stakes held by the other shareholders and is viewed as a cheaper option to raising funds on the debt market.