Net income was up by 20 per cent to US1.4 billion. Operating income was also up, by 24 per cent to US $1.55 billion.

Operating cash flow was US$1.78 billion, representing 38 per cent of revenues.

Mobile Station Mobile chipset shipments were 156 million units, up 32 per cent year-on-year and 23 per cent sequentially.

The licences were issued by former minister A Raja, who is accused of mis-selling bandwidth in what has been called India’s biggest corruption scandal. Raja denies wrongdoing.

Government auditors say the scandal cost the country about US$40 billion.

The judges also ordered a court to decide whether home minister P Chidambaram should be investigated. Opposition MPs accuse Chidambaram of failing to prevent the scandal when he was finance minister. He denies any wrongdoing.

Raja is currently on trial for fraud.

India is one of the world’s fastest growing markets for mobile telephones with 893 million subscriptions.

Reports say today’s verdict is likely to affect about five per cent of connections used by mobile phone customers.  India’s telecom regulator says the affected subscribers can be transferred to other mobile operators.  Some of the companies affected by the court order include Loop, Videocon, Idea Cellular, Tata Telecom, Uninor and Swan.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, Reuters said that Etisalat has invited bids for the tower assets.

The telco had been looking to sell the towers to another management company for around US$500 million, but sources indicated that a block sale of the entire portfolio proved difficult.

The company is now reported to be looking to sell its towers on a per-country basis.

“All actions and resolutions taken by the company since October 2003 at which Econet Wireless was entitled to be notified, and to participate in, as a shareholder, but was prohibited, are null and void,’ the judgement said. ‘This includes decisions to sell shares, issue shares, and also transfer shares to third parties.”

Econet said the judgement means the cellco’s name would revert to Econet Wireless Nigeria. “We have made it clear to the company, that as a shareholder, we would like to ensure that all actions that must be taken to comply with the court order are undertaken in such a way that there is minimal disruption to the ongoing operations of the company,” commented Econet Wireless Group chairman Strive Masiyiwa. “The board of Econet Wireless and I remain willing to sit down with Bharti Airtel, to review the best way forward for all parties. In the meantime, we have a fiduciary responsibility to take all of the necessary steps to vigorously protect the interests of our shareholders,” he added.

Laughing all the way to the bank – Strive Masiyiwa has his company’s five per cent stake claim to Airtel Nigeria affirmed by court (Image – courtesy of World Economic Forum)

Bharti Airtel has said it will appeal the court’s decision and that the judgement will have no impact on the equity holding of other shareholders in Airtel Nigeria.

The Indian telco inherited the legal case as part of its US$9 billion acquisition of Zain’s Africa operations in June 2010, including 65 per cent of Zain Nigeria.

Econet has always claimed that its five per cent stake in Econet Wireless Nigeria was cancelled following the takeover of the telco by Vodacom in 2003. Econet Wireless Nigeria was subsequently renamed Vee Networks and its brand name changed to Vodacom, but Vodacom pulled out of its contract soon after, citing ‘irregularities’ in the payment of the brokerage fees. Celtel International then purchased 65 per cent of the company in May 2006, a move that was disputed by Econet Wireless Limited, which claimed its pre-emption rights were breached. In 2009 Econet Wireless began moves to block the sale of Celtel’s (Zain) interests in Nigeria to Bharti Airtel until a ruling on the dispute over ownership of the company was passed. However, the takeover by the Indian firm was concluded in June 2010, with Zain Nigeria rebranded under the Airtel moniker by the end of the year.

A clause in the agreement between Bharti Airtel and Zain Group in the acquisition of the latter’s assets in Africa, was that Zain would be liable for any losses that may result from the ongoing litigation by Econet Wireless in Nigeria.

Oger Telecom also owns a 75 per cent stake in South Africa’s third mobile network, Cell C.

Citing sources familiar with the talks, Reuters said that Qatar – through its sovereign wealth fund – had made a direct approach to Saudi Oger about a deal.

Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) owns a 35 per cent stake in Oger Telecom, and has a right of first refusal if Saudi Oger were to look to sell its 55 per cent stake in the company.

The Qatar government also holds a majority stake in Qtel, although the deal is not thought to be involving the telco at this point.

This announcement marks the extension of the first managed services contract between Ericsson and MTN, originally signed in 2009 in connection to the rollout of MTN’s 3G network in Ghana. Under the extension, Ericsson is responsible for network operations, field maintenance and optimisation.

With 49 per cent market share, MTN is the leading operator in Ghana, which is one of Africa’s fastest growing telecom markets. In 2011, it grew by around 18 per cent to serve over 10 million subscribers.

· The differentiation of the customer experience

· The strengthening of the telco’s internal foundation

· Investment in new growth

“We have had significant success to date and our aspiration to join the top twenty global operators by the end of the decade remains important for us,” commented Nasser Marafih, Qtel Group CEO. “However, we recognise that the market is changing quickly and that we need to change with it. Our new vision and group strategy builds on our previous strategy and refines it by increasing our focus on differentiated customer experience, on transforming the way we manage our operations and embracing emerging and parallel business opportunities. At the same time, we will continue to set ourselves challenging financial targets.”

Marafih said in future the telco will increase its focus on broadband solutions, business-to-business opportunities, digital developments (TV, finance and health), as well as fibre technologies. At the same time the group will look to drive further operational and cost efficiency, productivity, and scale benefits while growing organisational and people capabilities.

The committed facilities are comprised in equal parts of a revolving credit facility maturing in June 2015 and a term loan facility that matures in June 2013. They will be used for general corporate purposes.

The facilities were signed on December 21, 2011.

Motorola shipped 10.5 million mobile devices during the period, including 5.3 million smartphones and 200,000 tablets. This compares with 11.3 million devices, with 4.9 million smartphones, in Q410.

For the full year, Motorola reported a net loss of US$249 million, compared with a prior-year loss of US$86 million, on revenue of US$13.1 billion, up 14 per cent.

North America remains Motorola’s largest market, accounting for 48 per cent of sales during the period. Other significant markets for Motorola in Q4 were Latin America (22 per cent) and Greater China (15 per cent).
In a statement, Sanjay Jha, chairman and CEO of Motorola said that “we remain energised by the proposed merger with Google and continue to focus on creating innovative technologies.”

The company said smartphones led the growth in mobile sales with developed markets, and the EU in particular, showing strong growth. Smartphone shipments were up 30 per cent quarter-on-quarter – although it stopped giving volume figures some time ago.

For the fourth quarter, Samsung’s mobile sales hit KRW17.2 trillion (US$15.3 billion), up 54 per cent year-on-year. Mobile sales reached KRW53.4 trillion for the twelve months, up 40 per cent on 2010.

For 2012, the company forecasts smartphone sales will grow a further 30 per cent, although feature phone growth will slow. The company also expects tablet sales to increase significantly year-on-year, with new mass-market models intensifying competition.

On a group level, Samsung saw a 17 per cent year-on-year rise in net profit for Q411 to reach KRW4.0 trillion. Q411 revenue was KRW47.3 trillion, up 13 per cent year-on-year.

However, net profit for the full year 2011 fell 15 per cent to KRW13.7 trillion despite revenue of KRW165 trillion, up 6.7 per cent year-on-year.