Following a meeting between Etisalat and Ericsson in Sweden, the two companies announced a strategic partnership to extend collaboration in new areas and strengthen their relationship as trusted ICT partners of government, industry, and enterprise business.

A delegation of Etisalat executive management including the Group CEO Ahmed Julfar travelled to Ericsson headquarters in Stockholm to meet with Ericsson president and CEO Hans Vestberg, and Ericsson executive management. The purpose of the visit was to discuss industry trends, Ericsson’s vision of a networked society, and to agree on areas where the two companies could further strengthen their partnership. 

As a result, Etisalat and Ericsson will jointly evaluate and identify enterprise opportunities for collaboration.

Etisalat Nigeria has become the latest telco to inform its subscribers of “possible disruptions” to its operations and services following the West African nation’s fuel shortage crisis.

MTN and Airtel, Nigeria’s largest cellcos, reported at the weekend that their services would be affected by the nationwide fuel shortages.

Nigeria’s fuel crisis has left millions of people in the country without lights and power for the past few weeks.

Taking to its Facebook page Etisalat Nigeria’s management informed subscribers of the possible disruptions to its network.

“The scarcity of petroleum products has impacted every sector of the economy and the provision of telecommunications services is no exception. We are however working with partners and doing all that is possible to continue to deliver quality services in spite of the challenge. Such a prolonged situation threatens our ability to re-fuel all our sites and thus negatively impacting service.

Etisalat Nigeria is the fourth largest mobile operator in the country with more than 18 million subscribers.

NetOne is reported to have begun receiving part of US$280 million worth of equipment from China to expand its mobile broadband project.

Last year, Zimbabwe finance minister Patrick Chinamasa signed a deal with Exim Bank of China in which the bank would pay for equipment from Huawei Technologies on behalf of NetOne.

NetOne managing director Reward Kangai said last week that the first batch of equipment had arrived from China, and would be put to use to deliver 2G, 3G, and 4G services.

Ooredoo Oman has announced the appointment of Majid Al Marzooqi as chief governance officer & company secretary. In this role, Al Marzooqi will lead Ooredoo’s strategic efforts to comply with all applicable corporate codes, identifying and adopting essential organisational governance practices, and ensuring the efficient administration of the company. As Ooredoo’s former director of legal affairs & company secretary, Al Marzooqi brings a wealth of in-house experience to the position.

Al Marzooqi enters his new role with nearly 10 years of experience with Ooredoo after starting as the company’s legal counsel and quickly rising through the ranks.

Lenovo saw fiscal Q4 net income to March 31 fall 37 per cent to US$100 million year-on-year as it absorbed major acquisitions in the shape of Motorola Mobility and IBM’s low-end server business.

Strip out M&A charges, however, and net income was up 23 per cent, to US$194 million.

A greater share of mobile sales in group revenue, and continued strong growth outside China, show progress in Lenovo’s strategic direction, which includes becoming less dependent on PC sales.

Revenue for the three months to end-March was up 21 per cent, year-on-year, to US$11.3 billion. PCs accounted for 63 per cent, mobile 25 per cent, and nine per cent from the enterprise. The same quarter the year previously, PCs contributed 83 per cent of sales.

Aside from a strong performance in PCs – eight straight quarters as number one supplier – Lenovo also experienced increased market shares in both smartphones and tablets, up 1.2 and 1.3 percentage points respectively, year-on-year.

Citing IDC figures, Lenovo said it had a 5.6 per cent share of the global smartphone market at the end of March, and a 5.4 per cent share in the worldwide tablet market – performances that merited third spot in each market sector.

Helping mobile growth, of course, was Motorola. Motorola-related volumes were up 23.6 per cent, year-on-year.

Moreover, Lenovo saw five times growth in smartphone volumes outside China over the same period. More than half of Lenovo’s smartphone volume (56 per cent) now comes from outside its domestic market.

On a full-year basis, Lenovo could boast record sales of US$46.3 billion, up 20 per cent from its previous fiscal year.

There was record net income, too. Before M&A charges, that was up 22 per cent, to US$997 million.