The chairman of Mobily has resigned with immediate effect, the kingdom’s No.2 telecommunications operator announced.

Abdulaziz Al Saghyir quit due to health reasons, but will remain on Mobily’s board, the company said in a statement to Riyadh’s bourse.

Mobily has appointed Suliman bin Abdulrahman Al Gwaiz as chairman, effective February 23. Al Gwaiz is also chairman of Banque Saudi Fransi and governor of state-owned fund the General Organisation for Social Insurance, the statement said.

Mobily reported a surprise fourth-quarter loss of SAR2.28 billion (US$607.9 million), while in November it also cut its profits for 2013 and the first half of 2014 by a combined SAR1.43 billion.

Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services has effectively cancelled the licence agreement with Telecel, but it will not force its closure as it seeks to tide over the business to more responsible investors.

It has been reported in local media that the government will this week call for a meeting with shareholders – Telecel International and the Empowerment Corporation – in order to advise them of the new position and also discuss the future of the business.

It is believed that the authorities intend to buy out the current shareholders and court new investors. Both shareholders have recently indicated their own intentions to divest from the mobile telecommunications operator.

In December 2014, VimpelCom – which indirectly bought 60 per cent of Telecel Zimbabwe through the acquisition of Naguib Sawiris’ Orascom Telecom Holdings in 2010 – said it would review its position in the local unit.

Similarly, some shareholders within the Empowerment Corporation (EC), a grouping of local investors who own 40 per cent of the business, have been willing to offload their stake to local equity investment and advisory firm Brainworks Management Capital.

Government has allowed Telecel to operate without a licence since a renewal agreement was struck in June 2013.

The Postal Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe and Telecel Zimbabwe have since been notified of the decision. Ironically, Econet Zimbabwe – majority owned by local businessman Strive Masiyiwa – paid the US$137.5 million licence fee in 2013, but Telecel Zimbabwe, which is controlled by a foreign entity, negotiated softer terms.

The terms of the licence renewal agreement that was signed on August 6, 2013 stipulated that Telecel would pay US$14 million by August 6, 2013 – a sum yet to be paid in full.

A follow-up meeting was held on June 30, 2014, and it was agreed that the operator would settle the outstanding amount while aligning its shareholding structure by December 1, 2014. By the set deadline Telecel had only paid US$5 million.

Orange Group exercised a call option to purchase all shares and voting rights held by Orascom Telecom Media and Technology (OTMT) in the Egyptian Company for Mobile Services (ECMS), which runs the Mobinil brand, in a deal worth just under €210 million (US$238 million).

The transaction, which Orange and OTMT reckon will be finalised by end-March 2015, will see the French firm cement its control in Mobinil, raising its stake from around 94 per cent to 99 per cent.

The €209.6 million deal includes OTMT’s five per cent stake in ECMS, along with 28.75 per cent of the voting rights of MT Telecom (MTT), the holding company of ECMS that is fully owned by Orange, for €45.8 million.

In a statement, Orange said the investment “confirms its commitment to the Egyptian market as one of its most important assets in the region and its largest market in terms of customers”.

Mobinil had a total of 32.5 million connections (including M2M) at the end of 2014, placing it second behind Vodafone (39.5 million connections).

Etisalat occupies third spot with 24.6 million connections.

The CEO of Zain Saudi Arabia, Hassan Kabbani, called for further reductions in call termination fees after the sector regulator slashed rates by 40 per cent.

Termination fees are those charged when a call originating on one network terminates on another network, with the caller network charged by the operator of the network on which the call is received.

High termination fees benefit the larger network operators, which have a bigger market share and fewer calls going "off-net" to other providers.

The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) has cut these fees to 0.15 riyals (US$0.04) from 0.25 riyals, it said in a statement on its website.

It did not say whether this would be with immediate effect, but a CITC report from September states call termination fees in countries it benchmarked Saudi against were 0.02-0.13 riyals.

STC and Mobily between them have 83 per cent of the kingdom’s mobile subscribers, according to Zain. The company has been lobbying to have charges reduced, arguing it is unfairly penalised with higher network charges due to its smaller customer base.

Cell C is exploring options for the third-largest South African cellco including a possible sale to domestic competitors, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Cell C, which is majority owned by Dubai-based Oger Telecom, is working with Goldman Sachs on the review, said people familiar with the developments.

The wireless provider had about 20 million customers as of January 2015, according to Cell C numbers. Market leader Vodacom Group reported more than 31 million active customers in South Africa as of the end of last year.

Cell C’s survival is at risk as the company’s two larger competitors, Vodacom and MTN, seek transactions to strengthen their dominance in Africa’s second-largest economy, Cell C CEO Jose Dos Santos told lawmakers in November. Cell C reduced staff last year after South Africa’s communications regulator scaled back plans to reduce the cost of interconnect, a proposal aimed at helping smaller carriers.

Oger Telecom is the telecommunications unit of Saudi Oger, which is the majority owner of Turk Telekom.

The company has invested US$450 million in the business in the last two years, it said in a statement.