Jordan Telecom Orange plans to invest JD50 million (US$71 million) in its 3G network over the remainder of this year.

CEO Nayla Khawam told Bloomberg News that the company had 500,000 3G subscribers at the end of May, just over a year after it launched the 3G service.

Previously Khawam said that the company aims to have 900,000 3G subscribers by the end of 2011.

A meeting of government ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has agreed to work on cutting mobile roaming rates between their countries.

The GCC ministers decided to adhere to the ministerial resolution made at a meeting three years ago, which stated that the GCC countries will move the implementation of proposals from a working group for a 30 per cent cut in roaming rates.

In a statement, the telecommunications regulatory authorities in the GCC said they would inform operators immediately after the meeting to implement the resolution.

Zain has announced that it has received the final tranche of US$700 million from Bharti Airtel as part of the sale last year of Zain’s African networks to the Indian company.

In a statement to the stock market, the company said: “With reference to the June 8, 2010 sale of Zain’s African assets (with the exception of Morocco and Sudan), and specifically to the deferred instalment of US$700 million, we would like to inform you that the company has received this amount, in accordance with the agreement of the transaction, in which the sum was to be paid one year after the transaction, conditional on the completion of both the final approvals and the of the sale and transfer of property.”

It should be noted that the amount was calculated as profits in the financial statements of the second quarter of 2010, and therefore will not have any effect on the financial statements for the current quarter of 2011.

MTN Group announced that its global subscribe base has passed the 150 million mark, after it added 8.4 million customers during the first four months of 2011. The cellco has networks in 21 countries.

Group revenue improved only marginally mainly as a result of the continued strengthening of the Rand against the US dollar and increased competition. Due to political unrest, operational performance has been impacted negatively in Cote d` Ivoire and to a lesser extent in Yemen and Syria.

Had there been no movement in the exchange rate, revenue and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) would have been meaningfully higher. Total revenue was still driven primarily by voice revenue however non voice revenue contribution continues to increase.

MTN`s capital expenditure was lower than anticipated to the end of April mainly due to slower than planned rollout in Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana. However, a significant amount of the capital expenditure originally anticipated for the period has already been committed.

The MTN board also decided that the creation of a formalised subsidiary company board for the international operations will not be progressed at this point in time.

Qualcomm is looking to launch a 4G based service in India by the end of this year, as it nears signing a formal agreement with a local partner.

The company acquired a block of radio spectrum in last year’s 3G/BWA auctions and said at the time that it would deploy a network then look to sell its stake in the company.

Speaking to Business Line, Kanwalinder Singh, president, Qualcomm India and South Asia, said, “We had earlier announced a four-step strategy for our broadband venture – to invest in spectrum, accelerate the ecosystem, to introduce one or more operators as partners and eventually exit. We are at the third step and we are in talks with operators.”

The company’s local holding subsidiary is 74 per cent owned by Qualcomm – the maximum permitted by Indian law – while Global Holding and Tulip Telecom hold 13 percent each.

Qualcomm holds one slot of 20 MHz TDD spectrum in the 2.3 GHz band covering the key telecom circles of Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala. Qualcomm has previously said that its objective is to facilitate the deployment of LTE in the 2.3 GHz band.

The company paid US$1.05 billion for the licences.