India’s telecoms regulator, TRAI has recommended that the government cancels 38 telecom licences in the wake of the ongoing telecom licensing scandal. Junior telecom minister Sachin Pilot told politicians in the upper house of parliament that the regulator had recommended cancelling the licences after legal examination of the original tenders.

The regulator had earlier wanted some licences cancelled as the companies had not met their network rollout obligations.

Although TRAI has not recommended cancellation of GSM spectrum licences of 85 companies, it did recommended for cancellation of 38 unified access service (UAS) licences. The affected companies and number of licences are as follows: Aircel (1); Dishnet Wireless (3); Etisalat DB (2); Loop Telecom (14); Sistema Shyam Teleservices (10) and Unitech Wireless (8).

Telecom minister Kapil Sibal said that the ministry will be sending notices to the companies asking them to explain why their licences should not be cancelled. The companies have two months to respond to the letters.

Plans to launch mobile number portability (MNP) in Kenya at the end of this year have been put back until next April due to reported delays at the mobile networks. Reports indicate that three of the country’s four operators are not ready for the service.

The telecom regulator agreed to delay the MNP launch until April 1, 2011.

The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) also said that all networks would sign a formal contract with the MNP clearing house, M/S Porting Access Kenya, which would bind the networks to offer the service by the new deadline.

Launching MNP in Kenya has been challenging. The plans, originally announced in 2004 were put on hold in 2007 after the regulator cited the high costs of implementing the system. They were then resurrected in late 2008 for launch between March and September 2009. Due to be offered by July, the deadline was pushed back to the end of 2010, and now to April 2011.

Safaricom is Kenya mobile market leader with a share of 82 per cent, followed by Zain with a share of 11.3 per cent. Econet has a share of 2.3 per cent while Orange (Telecom Kenya) counts a 4.1 per cent share.

Syria’s third mobile licence is set to be awarded next April, with an auction taking place on April 11, according to Syrian media reports, citing an executive from Detecon consultancy firm, which is acting as an advisor on the deal.

Syria will also announce the establishment of an independent telecom regulator before the licence auction commences, Imad Sabouni, the Syrian communications and technology minister said.

Etisalat, France Telecom, Qtel, Turkcell, and Saudi Telecom are pre-qualified for the licence auction.

Syria was estimated to have had just over 9.1 million mobile subscribers at the end of March 2010, representing a penetration rate of 44 per cent.

The two incumbent operators are set to have to buy out their current BOT agreements and convert to conventional licence agreements. The buyout price has been previously reported as being around US$500 million.

Bharti Airtel today announced an exclusive partnership with Manchester United Football Club and signed a four year partnership agreement. This is a first of its kind partnership signed between Bharti Airtel and Manchester United on the African continent.

Through the partnership Manchester United will support the Airtel Allstars search for young African football talent, while Airtel customers will have the opportunity to win tickets to watch the football team play in Manchester, take part in coaching sessions and access exclusive Manchester United news and download highlights, ringtones and wallpapers through the Airtel Live mobile portal.

The deal gives Airtel exclusive rights as the official mobile communications partner of Manchester United in 11 African markets with access to unique mobile phone content, including player interviews, goal replays and match reports.

Vodafone Qatar has awarded a contract to Alcatel-Lucent to be the sole supplier for an expansion into the fixed broadband market. Following the award of a landline licence last year, Vodafone Qatar plans to offer customers an integrated service, encompassing fixed and mobile.

To accomplish this project, Vodafone Qatar selected Alcatel-Lucent, together with partner companies, to deploy an entirely new fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network, based on gigabit passive optical network (GPON) and point-to-point Gigabit Ethernet technology. Alcatel-Lucent’s IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) solution will then be used to link the new infrastructure with Vodafone Qatar’s existing mobile network. This will allow services to be offered seamlessly through fixed and mobile connections without excessive cost or complexity.