France Telecom announced its fourth-quarter and full-year financial results, reporting a slight drop in fourth quarter revenues on a comparable basis to €11.73 billion (US$16.1 billion). For the full year, revenues dropped by 1.4 per cent to €45.5 billion, although net profit was up by 28 per cent at €4.9 billion.

Net profit was boosted by a €870 million increase in net income from discontinued operations linked to the establishment of Everything Everywhere, a joint venture between Orange and T-Mobile in the UK, along with a €206 million improvement in net financial income generated by the lower cost of financial debt and favourable foreign exchange rate effects. There was also a €487 million decrease in income tax; and an €88 million decrease in operating income.

The number of group customers at the end of the year were up by six per cent year-on-year on a comparable basis to 209.6 million.

"We strengthened the group’s international presence in 2010 by rolling out our brand in Tunisia, by establishing ourselves in Morocco, by acquiring an interest in Meditel and by bringing clarity to our relations with our partner in Egypt. We have already made good progress towards our objective of doubling our revenues in the emerging countries by 2015," commented France Telecom CEO Stéphane Richard.

Last September Intel inaugurated the region’s first Centre of Excellence for Wireless Applications (CEWA) in partnership with King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The development forms part of Intel’s plans to expand its Digital Transformation Initiative for the Middle East and fits right into Saudi Arabia’s efforts to create a knowledge-based society

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Orascom Telecom has signed a one-year extension to its ongoing management contract to operate Lebanese mobile network, Alfa. The contract, signed with the Lebanese telecom ministry will run until February 1, 2012.

The Lebanese government owns the country’s two mobile networks and signs management concessions with outside companies. It has been trying to sell the networks for a number of years, but political strife in the country has prevented parliament from passing the necessary laws.

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, along with co-investors Investec and FMO, announced a US$79 million equity investment in IHS Africa to help the company build and acquire mobile phone towers in sub-Saharan Africa.

IHS is the largest telecommunications infrastructure provider in West Africa with more than 2,700 towers under management, and is expanding its ownership and leasing operations throughout Africa.

IHS is currently working with many of the region’s operators to upgrade existing tower sites and facilitate the roll-out of technologies, including 3G and WiMAX.

Etisalat and Huawei today announced the signing of a commercial LTE contract to commence deployment of the region’s widest LTE network in the UAE. Nasser bin Obood acting CEO of Etisalat UAE, and Yi Xiang, president for Huawei Middle East, witnessed the signing ceremony at the Etisalat-Huawei Summit 2011 in Barcelona last week.

Etisalat has already tested and deployed LTE technology in the UAE.

Last week Etisalat also signed an agreement with Alcatel-Lucent for a planned deployment of LTE in the UAE, with a commercial launch commencing in the months to come.