Etisalat’s Nigerian subsidiary aims to spend up to US$500 million on its network next year, as it looks to double its customer base to 12 million. The company currently has around six million customers in Africa’s most populous country, and expects to reach seven million by the end of this year.

“We recently crossed the six million subscriber mark and we hope to reach seven million before the end of the year,” Steven Evans, CEO of Etisalat Nigeria, said.

The number of active mobile subscriptions in Africa crossed the 500 million mark in Q310, to reach 506 million at end-September, according to research by Informa Telecoms & Media. At end-Q310, Africa accounted for 10 per cent of the world’s mobile subscriptions and was one of the world’s fastest-growing regions – with the subscription numbers increasing 18 per cent over the year to September – as a result of the still low mobile penetration rate on the continent as well as demand for new services, such as mobile Internet access.

Informa Telecoms & Media forecasts that by 2015, there will be 265 million mobile broadband subscriptions in Africa, a significant increase from the current figure of about 12 million, and accounting for 31.5 per cent of the total of 842 million mobile subscriptions that the continent will have in five years’ time. There will be almost 360 million users of mobile-money services on the continent by 2014.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is also its largest mobile market, accounting for 16 per cent of the continent’s mobile subscriptions. Egypt and South Africa are the second and third largest mobile markets on the continent. Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tanzania and Zimbabwe together accounted for 48 per cent of the 54 million net additions to Africa’s mobile subscription market over the nine months to end-September.

Over the coming five years, the strongest growth rates in mobile subscriptions are expected to be recorded mainly in East and Central African markets, with Ethiopia, DR Congo, Eritrea and Madagascar forecast to see mobile subscription numbers increase by more than 100 per cent by 2015.

Oman Telecommunications (Omantel) reported a 21 per cent drop in its third quarter profits of OMR 84 million (US$214 million), alongside a 3.9 percent rise in revenues to OMR 316 million (US$817 million), the majority of which can be attributed to the increase in the domestic retail revenue of two per cent.

The group expenses reached OMR 224 million, compared to a figure of OMR 191 million for the corresponding period of last year, due to the aggressive expansion of 3.5G network and the depreciation resulting from introducing new technologies on the network.

The decline in net profit is attributed to an increase in expenses driven by a massive investment in expanding the network, transforming the network into an IP core intelligent network and the deployment of other new technologies. Furthermore, the net profit for the corresponding period of 2009 includes certain one off items relating to the settlement of an insurance claim and a reversal of bad debts.

The group’s subscriber base reached 3.3 million as of September 2010 – a growth ate of 10.3 per cent on the previous year. The subscriber base includes Worldcall subscribers, which saw growth by 7.6 per cent year-on-year to reach 852,000. Worldcall is a Pakistan-based operation.

Omantel reported that its Oman Mobile subscriber base grew by 20 per cent compared to year-on-year.

Following the announcement by Etisalat that it has made a formal, conditional offer to acquire 51 per cent of the Zain shares traded on the Kuwait Stock Exchange, Zain Group confirmed that the board of directors of Mobile Telecommunications Company KSC-‘Zain’ met on November 7, 2010 to discuss the request of Al-Khair National for Stocks and Real Estate Co., which has a large Zain shareholding, to approve and allow Etisalat to commence a process of due diligence with a view to acquiring the latter’s and other associated parties’ equity in the company.

Following the meeting, the Zain board announced that it had formally accepted Al Khair’s request to permit Etisalat to commence this process. 

Furthermore, Zain’s executive management will fully cooperate with Etisalat in completing all the necessary procedures of the due diligence, while at the same time ensuring the preservation of the company and shareholder interests.

It is important to note that one of the conditions to completing the transaction is the sale of Zain Group’s stake in its mobile operation in Saudi Arabia.

Zain will advise all stakeholders of any further developments on this matter as and when they occur.

Vodafone Qatar, has lost its CEO, Grahame Maher, who passed away in Qatar, it was announced on November 2.

Chief financial officer John Tombleson will be the acting chief executive, the company said in a statement.

Australia-born Maher died of a heart attack, a company spokeswoman said. He led Vodafone Qatar since 2008, managing the company through a US$1 billion IPO and the rollout of service to the public last year. Vodafone Qatar, which achieved a customer base of 600,000 in September 2010 out of a population of about 1.6 million, became the first domestic competitor to Qatar Telecom QSC.

“Grahame himself made a difference to the lives of everyone he touched,” the company said. “He was a great CEO, coach, mentor, and friend. We will all sorely miss his inspiration and vision, his passion and energy, and his love for all the people he worked with.”