Hamad Obaid Al Mansouri has been appointed the new director general of the UAE’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA). Al Mansouri replaces Mohammed Al Ghanim, who will continue to act as a consultant to the TRA’s board of directors, a government agency said in a statement.

Al Mansouri previously served as the director general of the UAE mGovernment initiative and was earlier the deputy director general of the TRA. He also held the post of director general of Information and e-Government from May 2013 to April 2014.

A graduate in Multimedia from Middlesex University in the UK, he was also a technical consultant in a number of government institutions.

Saudi Telecom Company (STC) announces the appointment of Khaled H. Biyari as CEO of STC effective April 27, 2015. The board of directors approved the appointment during its meeting on January 19, and will see Biyari, who currently serves as senior VP for Technology and Operations at STC elevated to the top job.

Biyari is also the chairman of STC Advanced Solutions, vice chairman of STC Viva Kuwait, vice chairman of OTL, and a board member of both Turk Telecom and Avea. Prior to joining STC, Biyari served as the senior VP and GM at Advanced Electronics Company (AEC). Between 1990 and 1995, Biyari was a professor of Communication Systems at the Electrical Engineering Department at King Fahad University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM).

Biyari’s appointment comes almost two years after Khaled Al Ghoneim resigned from the position in March 2013 after less than nine months in the position. In a statement at the time, STC cited “special circumstances” as being behind his departure, without giving any further detail.

Shortly thereafter STC’s board of directors appointed Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Alsugair as the company’s managing director, in addition to continuing his role as chairman of the board.

Nokia Networks today announced the appointment of Soenke Peters as head of its business in SKIL – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and Levant that includes Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. In this elevated role, Peters takes charge of the company’s operations for the whole region, leading the end-to-end business responsibilities, including sales, delivery, customer relationship and financial operations. Prior to this role, he was in charge of sales development for the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region of the company.

Soenke has more than 17 years’ experience in the telecommunications industry in various senior roles including sales and general management at country, regional and global level. During his nine years tenure in the MEA region, he was also in charge of the business with STC and led the sub-regions including Middle East and North East Africa.

Vodafone’s CTO Steve Pusey is to step down at the end of July 2015, and will be replaced by Ericsson head of networks, Johan Wibergh.

Pusey was the brains behind Project Spring, a multi-billion pound programme of network improvements currently underway at Vodafone, and masterminded its convergence strategy, acquiring fixed-line businesses in Germany, New Zealand, and Spain.

Wibergh, who will join the firm in May 2015 to undergo a transition period prior to Pusey’s retirement, has spent a number of years working in R&D and later business development roles before joining Ericsson in 1996. Following two separate postings to South America, he took up his current role in 2008.

Wibergh was responsible for leading all aspects of business strategy, R&D, product management and sales for Ericsson’s networking segment, which makes sales of around €13 billion (US$ 13.82 billion) per annum and has 27,000 employees. During his tenure Ericsson strengthened its position in mobile equipment, with a 35 per cent global market share.

On January 12, 2015, Apple filed a lawsuit asking the United States District Court for the Northern District of California to find that it does not infringe a small subset of Ericsson’s patents. In response Ericsson filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas requesting the court to determine if its global licensing offer for Ericsson’s standard essential patent portfolios to Apple is fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND).

Ericsson has today filed a complaint requesting a ruling on its proposed global licensing fees with Apple. During the past two years of negotiations, the companies have not been able to reach an agreement on licensing of Ericsson’s patents that enable Apple’s mobile devices to connect with the world and power many of their applications. Ericsson filed the suit in order to receive an independent assessment on whether Ericsson’s global licensing offer complies with Ericsson’s FRAND commitment.

Kasim Alfalahi, Chief Intellectual Property Officer at Ericsson, said: "Our goal is to reach a mutually beneficial resolution with Apple. They have been a valued partner for years and we hope to continue that partnership. Global sharing of technology has created the success of the mobile industry and allowed new entrants to quickly build successful businesses. We believe it is reasonable to get fair compensation from companies benefitting from the development we have made over the course of the last 30 years."

The global license agreement between Ericsson and Apple for mobile technology has expired and Apple has declined to take a new license on offered FRAND terms. Ericsson’s Q4 2014 IPR revenue will include payment from Apple under previous agreement.

Ericsson said it is committed to licensing its standard-essential patents on FRAND terms to provide a level playing field for all companies, lower the barriers of entry, and increase competition and innovation. As a result of standardisation and the FRAND principles, there are approximately 7.5 billion mobile subscriptions in the world today and mobile phones are the most sold consumer product globally.