GBI, a leading service provider that owns and operates a major subsea cable network in the Middle East, has forged a partnership with Datamena, carrier-neutral data centre and connectivity platform based in the UAE, which will extend GBI’s network from the Du’s landing station in Fujairah to the Datamena data centre in Dubai.

The extension of the GBI network will enable all Datamena customers to benefit from seamless end-to-end connectivity within the GBI network in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, and will further enhance their Datamena experience.

GBI is increasingly becoming the major carrier for telecom operators and governments throughout the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia offering capacity on the first ever network built with redundancy configurations in the Gulf region ensuring the end-user connectivity anywhere and at all times.

GBI’s global network connects the Middle East to Singapore towards the east and Egypt on the west, using two alternative terrestrial routes to protect traffic, crossing the Mediterranean to Italy and other major European cities. GBI has also succeeded in creating true diversity by establishing the “North Route” providing connectivity from GCC to Europe via Iraq and Turkey.

The partnership will allow GBI to join the Datamena’s rapidly growing ecosystem of over 50 customers, who interconnect through the UAE-based neutral platform, provided in alliance with Equinix.

Samsung’s second-quarter earnings are expected to be “not that good” according to chief financial officer Lee Sang Hoon, despite the release of the Galaxy S5 during the three-month period.

In the first quarter, Samsung reported that quarterly profit from its IT & Mobile Communications unit – which includes its handset business – fell year-on-year because of lower sales in the highly competitive market.

However, the April launch of the flagship Galaxy S5 might have been expected to give a rise to Q2 earnings.

Indeed Samsung said in May that it had already shipped 10 million units of the Galaxy S5.

But the company is facing competition from two directions: at the high-end from Apple and an assault at the lower end of its portfolio from Chinese vendors.

IDC believes Samsung’s smartphone shipments will be flat this quarter from the same period last year (Q213) and fall from the 88.5 million units in Q114.

Zain Saudi Arabia announced the signing of network expansion and upgrade agreements worth SAR4.5 billion (US$1.2 billion) with five leading global technology companies. The agreements aim to enhance Zain Saudi’s customer experience and to improve and expand Zain’s network capacity, coverage and speed.

The agreements were signed with Huawei, Nokia, NEC, Cisco, and Alcatel Lucent.

The operator aims to provide 4G LTE coverage to over 90 per cent of the population, providing existing and new customers with real high-speed mobile Internet connectivity.

Safaricom has confirmed that Huawei will be a supplier in the public security tender that the government awarded to the mobile network operator.

The government recently suspended the contract following increased pressure over how the tender was awarded and some concerns about a national security project being managed by a private company.

The confirmation by Safaricom’s CEO, Bob Collymore that Huawei is involved has only deepened the controversy, as Huawei lost the tender when it was originally offered due to apparently not meeting the required specifications.

"It is our understanding that the government chose to invite Safaricom to tender for the project due to the urgency of the security situation at hand and that is probably the most practical solution for the expeditious implementation of the system," Collymore told a parliamentary committee investigating the affair.

He also clarified that the costs had been misreported and that the bulk of the costs were for the initial phase, and would not need to be repeated again later.

Ooredoo Kuwait today announced the appointment of Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Thani as CEO of the company.

He will succeed Abdulaziz Ibrahim Fakhroo, who has tendered his resignation from the position upon reaching the end of his term. Fakhroo will move to a new position within the Group and will serve as a member of the board of directors of Ooredoo Kuwait.

Sheikh Mohammed holds a Master’s Degree in Finance and Accounting from the University of Cardiff, Wales. He previously worked in Ooredoo’s finance department as director of Financial Operations, and was subsequently.