Du has signed a services agreement with US communications company Verizon, allowing the UAE telco to offer a comprehensive suite of managed services. The services to be offered to Dubai-based global enterprise customers include Private Internet Protocol (PIP), Ethernet Private Line Service (EPL), and Ethernet Virtual Private Line service (EVPL).

The agreement will give Du access to Verizon’s global PIP network enabling the UAE telco to offer large business customers in the region a complete suite of enterprise IP, Ethernet and data services.

The deal is set to provide many industry leading capabilities and reliability including high-speed user connectivity in major markets, 60+ Ethernet Access Partners, eight-way mesh diversity on trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific routes and more direct routes with lower latency including direct connectivity from Dubai to the US and Europe. Du first launched its Global MPLS and Ethernet services one year ago in partnership with other service providers.

Zain Iraq is reportedly preparing for a stock market listing that will raise an estimated US$80 million for a 20 per cent stake in the cellco, the Kuwait Arabic daily Al-Qabas reported.

The cellco is required to list its shares on the Iraqi stock exchange as a condition of its operating licence within four years of receiving its concession. Under that condition, the listing will have to take place by August 2011.

Zain Iraq recently raised US$400 million in a seven-year debt facility to help fund its network expansion in the country.

The cellco counts 12 million customers, representing over 50 per cent of the country’s mobile phone market. It competes against two other national operators.

The number of registered mobile subscribers in Saudi Arabia reached 53.3 million at the end of the first quarter of 2011, a rise of over seven million in three months, according to the Saudi Communications Commission (SCC).

46.5 million of those subscriptions – 86 per cent — were prepaid. The SCC report also reported that the number of Internet broadband users rose by 68 per cent to 4.88 million compared to the 2.9 million users registered a year earlier.

At the end of Q111 fixed-line users numbered 4.25 million, with residential home connections numbering 3.2 million, constituting 75 percent of all active lines.

The SCC estimates the number of Internet users registered in Saudi Arabia at the end of the first quarter of 2011 at 11.8 million, compared to 10 million registered a year earlier.

Research In Motion (RIM) reported that its first fiscal quarter to May 28, 2011 revenue rose by 16 per cent to US$4.9 billion compared to US$4.2 billion a year ago, but net profit dropped by 10 per cent to US$695 million, down from US$769 million a year ago.

The revenue breakdown for the quarter was approximately 78 per cent for hardware revenue, 20 per cent for service and two per cent for software and other revenue.

During the quarter, RIM shipped approximately 13.2 million BlackBerry handheld devices and approximately 500,000 BlackBerry Playbook tablets.

“Fiscal 2012 has gotten off to a challenging start. The slowdown we saw in the first quarter is continuing into Q2, and delays in new product introductions into the very late part of August is leading to a lower than expected outlook in the second quarter,” said Jim Balsillie, co-CEO of RIM.

The company also announced its intention to cut jobs in order to lower its operating costs, but is still planning the details so was unable to say how many redundancies would occur.

Axiom Limited, a Dubai International Financial Centre registered entity and holding company of Axiom Telecom, the mobile distributor today announced that it has successfully closed a private placement deal to sell a 35 per cent stake in the company to Mannai Corporation. Axiom Telecom is the Middle East’s leading multi-brand, multi-channel distributor of mobile telecommunication handsets, accessories and telecom services.

Axiom Telecom founder and CEO, Faisal Al Bannai said the capital increase will aid the company’s plans of further growth and expansion and boost its dominance in the region and beyond. “We are happy to welcome our new shareholder Mannai Corporation and feel confident that with the support of all the shareholders, we can take the company to the next level,” he said.

Mannai Corporation is a publicly listed company on the Qatar Exchange employing over 3,300 people.

Mannai Corporation’s diverse range of business areas include automotive distribution and service, information and communication technology, engineering services to the oil and gas sector, home appliances & electronics, travel services, logistics, geotechnical and geological services, facilities management, trading and commercial representation.

Last December Axiom Limited cancelled its proposed IPO, having been set to offer institutional investors about US$100 million in shares, although the size of the issue had steadily fallen from more optimistic plans announced earlier in the year. The company had originally looked to IPO up to 35 per cent of the stock.