Palestine’s second mobile operator, Wataniya Palestine has added more than 70,000 subscribers since launching commercial services at the end of October, according to Qtel Group CEO, Nasser Marafih.

“The market traction is good and we expect further growth to be strong,” Marafih told Comm. in a wide-ranging interview. Qtel Group is the parent company of Wataniya.

The incumbent operator in Palestine is Jawwal and according to the Mobile World subscriber database, the operator is estimated to have just over one million subscribers. Within the Palestinian Territories though, some 1.7 million mobile phones are in use and this is due to the Israeli networks “leaking” over the borders and providing service to Palestinians.

Wataniya Palestine is 40 per cent owned by Wataniya International. Thirty per cent will be offered to the Palestine Investment Fund (PIF) and 30 per cent is owned by the general public through an IPO.

The operator began commercial operations with 40,000 users who had registered during a promotional campaign launched in September.

Qtel Group and Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) have announced a long term collaboration to create a mobile innovation ecosystem for the Middle East and North Africa region. This association combines Qtel Group’s position and regional footprint in 17 markets, with the facilities and services for mobile technology that QSTP provides.

With a shared vision to create a bigger mobile industry for the region, the partnership offers new opportunities for the regional developers’ community to come together, and to establish links with their peers outside the region.

It also aims to develop relevant and localised mobile innovations in several areas, such as healthcare, education, banking and other vertical industries. Furthermore, the collaboration will also attract new talent, businesses, skills, and technologies into Qatar.

The Qtel and QSTP collaboration is positioning itself to boost the industry in the region by promoting the development of new mobile applications to drive consumer uptake of more advanced mobile services and local mobile content in the future.

Alan Horne’s three-year tenure as the director general of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), Bahrain has ended, and Horne has said he is in the process of assessing other opportunities, some of which exist in the region. Horne has been in the telecommunications industry for more than 30 years. He started his career with British Telecom moving on to Phillips and Mitel Telecom. He founded InterConnect Communications in 1984 and grew the company into an internationally renowned consultancy advising on all matters in telecommunications regulation.

In 2001 Horne sold the company to Telcordia Technologies of the US. He has advised boards of operators in such matters as preparation for liberalisation and privatisation; enterprises on benefiting through the use of new competitive services and technologies; and governments on establishing independent regulators.

Horne’s responsibilities as director general are now being handled by the chairman of the TRA, Mohammed Ahmed Al Amer.

Seven firms have been short listed by Oman’s telecom regulator to provide services to remote parts of the sultanate.

The winner will be granted the first ten-year universal service licence in Oman, allowing it to offer fixed and mobile services and broadband Internet, with financial subsidies paid by the state.

Oman’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) said the seven have been selected from an initial group of ten “renowned national and international operators”, with “sound financial positions and extensive experience of operating telecom networks and providing telecom services”.

India’s Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) is believed to be one interested party as is Hong Kong-based telco PCCW, which was initially granted Oman’s second fixed licence last year before the decision was reversed and the licence awarded to Nawras.

Oman’s TRA said it is now assessing the seven bidders’ technical and financial proposals, and that it hopes to issue the licence by the end of first quarter 2010.

UAE operator Etisalat is considering expansion into Libya, Syria and Lebanon, according to Jamal Al Jarwan, CEO for Etisalat International Investments.

Etisalat, which operates in 18 markets including the UAE, hopes to broaden its overseas operations still further when Libya declares the winner of its auction of a third GSM licence. The decision is expected to be taken by the Libyan government before the end of the year.

Lebanon, which has two state-owned telecom operators, wants to privatise the business. Etisalat will also participate in the privatisation of Syria’s sole mobile operator.

Etisalat suffered something of a set back earlier this year, having been declared the winner of the third mobile licence in Iran, only to fail to have the decision ratified. There has also been market speculation that the UAE’s operations in Africa have not been performing as well as initially hoped, and that the telco may have been at an early stage of reviewing its continued participation in West Africa.