The review of Zain Group’s African portfolio has taken place for the better part of this year, though still no definitive agreement has been reached. In much the same way that discussions between MTN Group and Bharti Airtel on a merger have yet to be ratified, do these movements in the African telecoms sector signal a cooling of investor sentiment towards African telecom stocks?

Bharti Airtel is India’s market leader with over 100 million subscribers. However intense competition is likely to change the dynamics of the market in the future

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The success of mobile broadband uptake in Saudi Arabia is a well documented occurrence, though few can place it in better context than Khalid Al Kaf, CEO of Mobily. Speaking to a distinguished audience at the inaugural Telecoms Leaders event held at MECOM 2009, Al Kaf articulated the presentation of the day, and shed light on why mobile broadband has and continues to be such a runaway success in the kingdom

Al Kaf believes the mobile industry is poised to be the natural and therefore main means of accessing broadband data in the future

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Simon Beresford-Wylie has announced his resignation from his position as CEO of Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), and will be replaced by Rajeev Suri, a 20-year telecom industry veteran who has been leading NSN’s Services business since 2007. To provide the proper transition, Beresford-Wylie will stay on through the beginning of November.

During his tenure, Beresford-Wylie has steered the company through its initial inception and the merger of Nokia Networks and Siemens Networks.

Incoming NSN boss, Rajeev Suri

Suri brings his expertise in running the profitable services division to the North American and other international markets.

Speaking to news wires, Suri said he believed there is only room for three telecom equipment vendors, adding that Nokia Siemens was planning on being one of those left standing from the current crop of five or six firms with global aspirations.

Shares in Alcatel-Lucent jumped some 20 percent last week on expectations of imminent consolidation in the sector.

Zain has announced that its shareholders have approved removing ownership restrictions from its statutes, paving the way for a foreign or local investor to own a majority on the cellco.

Zain is in talks with three international telecoms companies on the sale of its African operations. “All scenarios are possible,” commented Saad Al Barrak, Zain Group CEO, on August 31, following an extraordinary general assembly meeting.

Shareholders agreed to cancel articles that limited individual ownership to two percent of the company’s capital and restricted public shareholding companies to holding no more than five percent.

“There is a demand for the African assets, in fact demand that is way beyond what we ever expected,” Al Barrak is reported as saying.

Zain shares are trading at 1,480 fils (US$5.16) in Kuwait, valuing the company at around US$22 billion. The stock price has risen close to 80 per cent since the beginning of the year.

Nigeria is a country well known for its fluid commercial and social activities, years of which have stifled economic progress despite a significant population and abundant mineral wealth. The former state telecoms monopoly Nitel epitomises this failure in the face of overwhelming potential, though the company’s CEO is asking for someone to take a billion dollar bet to transform the telco into a functioning converged communications provider

While Nigeria’s four leading mobile operators count more than 60 million mobile subscribers amongst them, Mtel counts fewer than 100,000

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