In a statement to the Abu Dhabi stock exchange, Etisalat has said it will book an impairment charge on its 2011 financial statements of AED3.04 billion (US$827 million) relating to its Indian assets. The net impact of this charge on consolidated net profit is expected to be AED1.02 billion.

The operator reported full-year 2011 net profit of AED5.84 billion, down 23.4 per cent compared with AED7.63 billion a year ago, affected by the India operation impairment charge.

Etisalat owns a 45 per cent stake in start-up Indian cellco Etisalat DB, a joint venture with local partner Swan Telecom, which was one of the eight firms awarded licences in the now controversial 2G spectrum auction in 2008.

The UAE telco paid US$900 million for its 45 per cent stake in 2008, and has gone on to invest more than US$1 billion in the venture.

Saudi Arabia is set to go ahead with the requirement of proof of identification before a person can recharge a prepay SIM card, reports in the kingdom suggest.

The proposals, originally announced by the regulator, the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), will require the registration of the purchaser’s national ID number with the prepay phone number.

When a top-up is added to the account, the ID number will need to be added again.

"We are still resolved to implement the decision. Telecommunications companies operating in the kingdom had asked for a time period to make the necessary changes to their system to support the regulation," CITC governor, Abdullah Al-Darrab said.

Vodacom Group reported that its fourth-quarter revenues to end-December 2011 rose by 12.2 per cent to reach ZAR 18 billion (US$2.38 billion).

The cellco added five million customers across all its operations, which it said was a record growth number, and ended 2011 with 52.9 million subscribers.

“The South African business defied the somewhat gloomy economic conditions and achieved a 25 per cent increase in customers, ending the quarter at 32 million users," commented Pieter Uys, Vodacom Group CEO.

"Our International operations maintained the positive momentum and accounted for more than 40 per cent of the increase in our total customers," he added.

Batelco Group today announced its agreement for the sale of its shareholding in STel Private Limited (STel), a mobile operator in India. The Bahrain telco stated this is a part of an earlier understanding with its Indian partner to exit, given the circumstances surrounding the 2G probe in India over the past twelve months.

Batelco Group CEO, Mohamed bin Isa Al Khalifa, stated that “BMIC Limited, a 100% Batelco owned subsidiary company, entered into an agreement, in the fourth quarter of 2011 to sell its 42.7 per cent equity in STel for BD 65.8 million (US$174.5 million) to its Indian partner, Sky City Foundation Limited.”

The agreed time frame for completion of the sale is the end of October 2012.

As stated in previous statements, BMIC Limited (BMIC) had decided, as early as April 2011 to actively pursue the sale of this investment. Batelco Group had disclosed in its financial accounts for the period ending June 30, 2011, which BMIC’s investment in STel was presented as an asset held-for-sale.

BMIC acquired 42.7 per cent equity in STel via two transactions in May and June 2009 for a total of US$174.5 million.

“As Batelco continues to grow and diversify its operations, we remain interested in other investment opportunities for the Batelco Group that will enable us to participate in the Indian telecom market. We are actively exploring all options in this respect over the coming months,” concluded Al Khalifa.

Nokia plans to cut around 4,000 jobs at manufacturing sites in Finland, Hungary and Mexico as it looks to boost efficiency in its smartphone operations. The company said the changes are aimed at increasing its global competitiveness and stem from a review of its smartphone manufacturing activities announced last September.

During the course of 2012, device assembly will shift from Salo (Finland), Komarom (Hungary) and Reynosa (Mexico) to Nokia’s factories in Asia, where many of the company’s component suppliers are based. The European and Mexican facilities will shift their focus to smartphone product customisation.

Nokia said there will be a reduction in the work taking place on the sites in Europe and Mexico, which is anticipated to impact around 4,000 employees across the three factories. The personnel reductions will be phased through the end of 2012.

Nokia executive VP for markets Niklas Savander said he believed moving device assembly to Asia would reduce time to market and allow Nokia to work more closely with suppliers to more quickly introduce innovations into the market.