Orange and Airtel have entered into an exclusive agreement to explore the possible acquisition by Orange of Airtel’s subsidiaries in Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville and Sierra Leone.

In a published statement the operators said “There is no certainty of any binding agreement as a result of these discussions.”

The talks are an apt reflection of the respective company’s contemplation of conducting business in Africa, with Airtel having been looking at a potential exit from the continent, and Orange stating the strategic importance of Africa to its ongoing operations.

Ericsson reported an 11 per cent annual increase in revenues year-on-year to SEK60.7 billion (US$7.09 billion), in what it described as a solid Q2 2015, although if you adjust for constant currency revenues were down six per cent.

Sales were boosted by an improvement in the company’s Networks business, which reported an 18 per cent sequential rise in Q2 revenue, in part thanks to stabilised mobile broadband sales in North America as well as higher network spending by Asian and European mobile operators.

Nevertheless, sales in North America were still at a lower level than a year ago. In addition, sales declined in Japan, parts of Latin America and Russia. Ericsson noted that this was partly offset by a continued fast pace of 4G deployments in Mainland China. Sales growth was also strong in the Middle East, India and South East Asia.

In Northern Europe and Central Asia, sales declined year-on-year primarily due to slower mobile broadband investments in Russia. The vendor noted that Professional Services showed good momentum here, and Support Solutions continued to develop favourably.

In Western and Central Europe, sales increased on an annual basis thanks to improvements in Global Services, continued mobile broadband deployments and investments in network quality.

Excluding restructuring charges, operating income increased by 49 per cent year-on-year to SEK6.3 billion, while the operating margin in the Networks segment recovered from the weak first quarter, rising to eight per cent in the second quarter from two per cent in Q1 2015. Including charges, operating income was 11 per cent lower at SEK3.6 billion.

Ericsson said the operating income was lower primarily due to the higher restructuring charges of SEK2.7 billion associated with the global cost and efficiency programme, which is targeting savings of about SEK9 billion during 2017 compared to 2014. This programme has led to the reduction of 2,100 positions in Sweden, with some 1,700 employees leaving the company. Savings related to these activities will start to impact results towards the end of this year, Ericsson said.

As a result of the fall in operating income, net income was down by 20 per cent year-on-year at SEK2.1 billion, although compared to the first quarter of this year net income grew by 46 per cent. The gross margin was lower at 33.2 per cent (from 36.4 per cent in Q2 2014), weighed down by the restructuring charges.

Zimbabwe’s government could be set to acquire VimpelCom’s 60 per cent stake in Telecel through its state-owned ISP ZARNet, according to local reports.

The country’s ICT minister, Supa Mandiwanzira, told parliament that VimpelCom had offered the government its stake, but conceded “it did not have the immediate capacity to do the transaction itself”.

Instead, Mandiwanzira said the state had chosen one of its entities “to pursue the transaction in a commercial way”.

VimpelCom had reportedly already found a foreign investor to buy the stake, before the move was blocked by the government to allow ZARNet to make the deal.

Telecel, which is Zimbabwe’s smallest operator, saw its licence cancelled in April by regulator POTRAZ for a breach of regulation, but operations have since been temporarily restored after a court battle.

At the time, VimpelCom also offered to cede control of the company during negotiations with the regulator by offering 11 per cent of its shares to employees, thus reducing foreign ownership to 49 per cent.

VimpelCom first revealed it wanted to exit Zimbabwe in 2012 as part of wider plans to sell its emerging market units.

According to Reuters, the government had the opportunity to make a full takeover of the unit, after a group of local shareholders also offered to sell the remaining 40 per cent holding in the company.

The value of the deals remains undisclosed.

Former Microsoft South Africa head Mteto Nyati has been appointed the new CEO of MTN South Africa.

Nyati is taking over from exiting head Ahmad Farroukh who will be leaving to take up the role of CEO at Saudi telecom operator Mobily.

Nyati joined MTN as group chief enterprise officer in October 2014, after working at Microsoft South Africa since 2008. At Microsoft, Nyati served as managing director for the South African operations, and also had a short stint as the group’s GM for the MEA Emerging Regions.

Etisalat Group today announced the appointment of Ahmad Farroukh as the new CEO of Mobily.

Farroukh brings over thirty years international business experience across Middle East, Africa, North America, and Europe to his new role at Mobily. Most recently he was CEO of MTN South Africa and Nigeria. Prior to that appointment he was MTN Group COO responsible for covering its operations.

Farroukh began his career in 1983 as the finance manager for Mediterranean Investor Group. By the early 1990s he focused on audit roles, first as an audit supervisor for KPMG, New York and then for Deloitte Touché, Saudi Arabia, before joining Investcom Holding Group as its group finance controller in 1996.

He then moved to Africa joining Scancom (Investcom Holding Group) in Ghana as MD and regional manager for its West Africa operations. Following Investcom’s acquisition by MTN Group, he was appointed as CEO MTN Nigeria, which, under his leadership, grew to 40 million subscribers with EBIDTA margins of 62 per cent.  This success propelled him to the role of VP West and Central Africa and later Group COO at MTN.  In 2014 he was appointed as CEO of MTN South Africa. 

Mobily has been under investigation by Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market Authority since November, after the operator restated figures for 2013 and the first nine months of 2014, which it blamed on an accounting error. The issue led to the suspension, and then sacking of founding CEO Khalid Al-Kaf.