Etisalat today reported that during the fourth quarter of 2008 it recorded a net profit of AED 2.1 billion (US$572 million), before year-end adjustments, reflecting an increase of 18 per cent as compared to the same period in 2007. Etisalat also reported total annual net profit of AED8.665 billion, up 19 per cent year on year, while net revenues for the year amounted to AED 26.119 billion, up 22 per cent.

Omran believes new licences such as the one awarded in India will support the development of Etisalat into the future

Net revenues in Q408 amounted to AED 7.1 billion, up from AED 6 billion for the same quarter a year earlier, reflecting an increase of 18 per cent.

“Acquiring new licences in Iran and India provides us with significant growth opportunities, and will support the development of our company for many years to come,” commented Etisalat chairman, Mohammad Omran.

At the end of 2008, the number of Etisalat mobile subscribers in the UAE grew 14 per cent year-on-year to 7.3 million, fixed line subscribers grew three per cent to 1.36 million and Internet subscribers grew 31 per cent to 1.15 million.

Pan-regional mobile virtual network aspirant Friendi Mobile has appointed Mounir Qalam as senior vice president for business development with responsibility for the company’s activities in Africa and Mediterranean region. Qalam will be based out of Casablanca, where a representative office will officially open in February.

Mounir Qalam will spearhead Friendi Mobile’s efforts in Africa, and he will be based in Casablanca

Prior to joining Friendi Mobile, Qalam was executive VP at Wana Corporate in Morocco, heading up Wana Entreprises, the B2B business unit of Wana Corporate. He was also CEO of Wana Oteo. Wana is a new entrant alternative operator in Morocco seeking to offer residential and corporate customers a full range of fixed and mobile services.

Founded in early 2006, Friendi’s original coverage spanned 14 markets across the Middle East and North Africa, though CEO Mikkel Vinter says opportunities arising in sub-Saharan Africa as well as in South Asia have prompted the company to widen its area of interest.

“Today we have business development projects ongoing in more that 20 countries, and as we are working with local partners and mobile operators from sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia more and more, we decided to add some dedicated resources to look after these regions,” Vinter said. “We have now opened an office for our African activities and it is based in Casablanca.”

India’s Tata Communications has increased its stake in South Africa’s second fixed-line network operator (SNO) Neotel to 56 per cent after acquiring Eskom and Transnet’s 30 per cent stake.

Neotel has an agreement with mobile operator MTN to jointly build a 5,000 km fibre-optic network across South Africa

“This reaffirms Tata Communications commitment to its expansion and investment plans in the emerging regions of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East,” commented N Srinath, managing director and chief executive of Tata Communications. “We will support Neotel’s efforts to provide global quality telecoms services in South Africa.”

Neotel is a converged communications network operator, providing a range of value-added voice and data services for businesses and wholesale network operators. Neotel has an agreement with South African mobile phone operator MTN to jointly build a 5,000 km fibre-optic network to connect major cities across the country.

Last year the Tata group rebranded its communications business as part of a global expansion strategy, combining VSNL, VSNL International, Teleglobe, Tata Indicom Enterprise Business Unit, and Cipris brands worldwide into a single entity, Tata Communications.

Turkey is a country that straddles the east and west, incorporating European, Asian and Middle East cultures. Often classified as belonging to the wider Middle East, it is the region’s largest single telecom markets counting over 60 million mobile subscribers. Despite this large number of users, the country only recently awarded 3G licences, with the three incumbent mobile operators expected to launch services in the middle of 2009

In November, the Telecom Authority of Turkey announced that the country’s largest mobile operator Turkcell had won the largest block of 3G spectrum or ‘A licence’ with a bid amounting to US$462 million. The reserve price for the concession had been set at US$405 million.

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The prognosis for the major equipment suppliers in 2009 is not good, but despite this Motorola’s Ali Amer and Noel Kirkaldy consider the vendor’s prospects for the year ahead in the Middle East and Africa positively. LTE, WiMAX and FTTx are amongst the reasons why Motorola believes its has made the right technology bets, from which it will weather the global economic storm

In his many years in the telecoms sector, Ali Amer, vice president for the Middle East and Africa for Motorola’s home and mobility business unit, has never seen a global economic slump set to have such an impact on the telecoms sector. He takes some consolation in the belief that the effects of the slowdown will be more heavily felt in North America and Europe than they will be in the Middle East and Africa region. That is not to say Amer believes the MEA region will be without its very real challenges.

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