South Africa mobile telecoms  company Vodacom announced that UK operator Vodafone has agreed to acquire an additional 15 per cent stake in Vodacom Group from Telkom for a cash consideration of ZAR22.5 billion (US$2.2 billion) less the pro rata consolidated attributable net debt of Vodacom Group of approximately ZAR1.55 billion.

Vodafone has waited three years to secure a majority stake in Vodacom

The transaction will increase Vodafone’s shareholding in Vodacom Group from 50 per cent to 65 per cent. Vodacom Group will be listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and the remaining 35 per cent of Vodacom Group will be demerged by Telkom to its shareholders.

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Omantel is entering a new era in its history, with the reintegration of previously spunoff Oman Mobile into the fold, and the introduction of a new corporate brand in the first  quarter of next year. CEO Mohammed Al-Wohaibi details the strategic course the telco has embarked upon, which he believes will safeguard it from the ravages of competition, and  outlines why redundancies – almost unheard of in the telco sector in the region – will help  position Omantel for future growth and resilience. Michelle Mills reports

Mohammed Al-Wohaibi, CEO of Omantel

“Going forward, to be able to be transformed into a customer-centric organisation with high efficiency and effectiveness, some of the staff that have been with the company a long time may not be able to be transformed accordingly,” states Mohammed Al-Wohaibi in an exclusive interview with Comm.

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China recorded its first monthly decline of mobile subscribers in its history, due to a difference in counting measures of CDMA subscribers between China Telecom and China Unicom.

China Telecom acquired China Unicom’s CDMA network in June, and in September China Unicom counted 41.73 million subscribers. However, China Telecom has disregarded customers who have not paid their most recent bill – 93.2 per cent of subscribers are post-paid – or those who the operator doubted would pay in the future.

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UAE operators Etisalat  and Du have both tied up with Jump TV, one of the world’s largest Internet television carriers, and Dubai Media Incorporated (DMI) to offer converged ‘anytime,
anywhere’ TV services across multiple devices.

A new converged mobile and Internet TV solution will enable UAE subscribers  to view DMI channels on their 3G-enabled phones or personal computer

Subscribers will be able to access DMI channels from 3G enabled handsets, as well as computers and handheld devices through Internet streaming of video on demand content.

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Chinese vendors Datang Telecom, ZTE and Huawei were awarded the lion’s share of a massive contract to supply 12,000 base stations to support China Mobile’s TD-SCDMA 3G services.

Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Motorola could soon be launching TD-SCDMA handsets in China

Datang Telecom won around 40 per cent of the deal, followed by ZTE on 30 per cent, while Huawei received 20 per cent of the contract.

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