Vodafone Qatar divulged its operating highlights for the quarter to end-June 2013, offering the following KPIs:

· 1,146,000 mobile customers as at June 30; an increase of 31 per cent compared to June 2012 and 5.7 per cent growth over the previous quarter

· Quarterly revenue of QAR459 million (US$126 million); 31 per cent growth over the same quarter last year and 5.5 per cent growth over the previous quarter

· Mobile ARPU was stable at QAR123

· EBITDA reached QAR99 million; an increase of 92 per cent year-on-year

· Distributable profit was QAR 16 million for the quarter and

· Net loss reduced to QAR 85 million; an improvement of 28 per cent over the same quarter last year.

Vodafone Qatar is a joint venture between Vodafone and the Qatar Foundation and has 55 per cent of its shares listed on the local stock market. Vodafone Group’s effective interest in the company in 23 per cent.

Apple has posted a net fall in its third fiscal quarter profits to June 29, although its revenues managed to rise only very slightly during the three month period.

The company posted revenues of US$35.3 billion, as compared to US$35 billion a year ago.

Net profit fell to US$6.9 billion from US$8.8 billion last year. The profit figure is even lower than Apple achieved back in 2011 when it booked a quarterly profit of US$7.3 billion

Gross margin was 36.9 per cent compared to 42.8 per cent in the year-ago quarter.

International sales accounted for 57 per cent of the quarter’s revenue, a decline on the 62 per cent of sales generated a year ago. The company saw particularly strong declines in China and Hong Kong, which the company’s CEO, Tim Cook admitted had been puzzling.

The company sold 31.2 million iPhones, a record for the June quarter, compared to 26 million in the year-ago quarter, beating most analyst expectations.

However, sales of the iPad tablets fell to 14.6 million, compared to 17 million in the year-ago quarter. The company sold 3.8 million Macs, compared to 4 million in the year-ago quarter.

Huawei has announced its unaudited financial and operational results for the first half of 2013 with the company generating revenues of US$18.54 billion, an increase of 10.8 per cent over the same period in 2012. Based on this growth and other positive business indicators, Huawei expects to generate a net profit of 7-8 per cent in 2013.

"Our success in H113 was mainly driven by the steady growth of the Carrier Network business, the expansion of the Enterprise business, and the fast growth of the Consumer business, as well as the continuous enhancement of our overall operational efficiency. Revenues and profit are in line with our expectations," said Cathy Meng, chief financial officer at Huawei.

Much of Huawei’s gains have been due to business opportunities generated by a series of highly innovative new product and solution launches, including many industry firsts, and a result of strategic expansions in key growth markets including the Middle East, Europe, and Australia.

Earlier this year Huawei confirmed that its Middle East business generated healthy revenues totalling over US$2 billion in 2012, up approximately 18 per cent from the previous year’s revenues with all of Huawei’s business groups seeing a positive increase in revenues. Today Huawei Middle East has offices across 10 countries with over 3,800 employees—of whom over 64 per cent are local hires.

Etisalat Group reported strong consolidated revenues during the second quarter of 2013, reaching AED9.88 billion (US$2.7 billion) representing an increase of 20 per cent year-on-year and an increase of three per cent quarter-on-quarter. During the quarter, group consolidated revenues were affected by the changing in the accounting treatment of the operations in Pakistan, which were consolidated with effect from January 1, 2013.

In the UAE, revenues of AED6.3 billion for the quarter were 12 per cent higher than in Q212 and five per cent higher sequentially. The year-over-year growth in revenues was primarily due to customer acquisition, an increase in data revenues, and handsets sales.

Revenue from international consolidated operations grew by 50% to AED 3,513 million, representing 36% of consolidated revenues.

Etisalat Group’s first six months 2013 revenue increased to AED19.5 billion in comparison to AED16.5 billion for H112.

The number of Etisalat Group’s aggregate subscribers grew to 143 million by end of June 2013, representing growth of 14 per cent compared year-on-year. The Group reported strong net additions of 18 million subscribers as a result of growth across all of its operations.

Consolidated net profit post Federal Royalty increased year-over-year by six per cent to AED1.98 billion, which was achieved through higher EBITDA and higher share of profit from associates.

Earnings per share (EPS) reached AED0.25 representing an increase of six per cent as compared to last year.

Etisalat announced today that Vivendi has formally granted Etisalat a period of exclusivity for the acquisition of Vivendi’s 53 per cent stake in Itissalat Al Maghrib (Maroc Telecom) until September 25 2013.

Etisalat’s binding offer values each Maroc Telecom share at MAD 92.6 (US$11), amounting to a consideration for Vivendi’s 53 per cent stake in Maroc Telecom of €3.9 billion. The closing share price of Maroc Telecom (Exchange Ticker: IAM) was MAD 99.55 per share at the Casablanca Stock Exchange on July 22, 2013.

The above consideration does not include the dividend received by Vivendi from Maroc Telecom in respect of the 2012 financial year, equivalent to MAD 7.40 per share, which will also be for the benefit of Etisalat. At closing, Etisalat will pay Vivendi the cash value of such 2012 dividend of €300 million.

Vivendi’s response to Etisalat’s binding offer will follow consultation with its Works Councils. If Vivendi accepts the offer, the transaction remains subject to a number of conditions including, among others, the execution of a shareholders’ agreement with the Kingdom of Morocco and securing competition and regulatory approvals in the Kingdom of Morocco and certain other jurisdictions in Maroc Telecom’s footprint.

Moroccan capital markets regulations will require Etisalat to make a mandatory tender offer to the remaining shareholders in Maroc Telecom, which may result in Etisalat further increasing its shareholding. The outstanding free float represents approximately 17 per cent of total number of shares.

Etisalat is planning to finance the transaction through external borrowings and has already secured a commitment to provide the requisite funds from a syndicate of local and international banks.

Etisalat’s Extraordinary General Assembly Meeting that was held on May 28, 2013 approved the board’s recommendation to raise external funding in excess of the corporation’s capital.