Saudi Arabia’s CITC has confirmed that the deadline for the submission of applications for one of the kingdom’s three proposed mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) licences closed yesterday at 3pm local time. Earlier in March the CITC announced that due to requests from some interested parties to postpone the deadline for submitting applications, the regulator had extended it by a week to May 11.

Interested parties are forecast to include Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa, Renna Mobile, Mobily, and Effortel, amongst others.

Zain Group has reported a 27 per cent decline in its first-quarter net profit, blaming steep devaluation in the Sudanese pound and loss-making unit Zain Saudi Arabia for the drop.

The operator recorded net profit of KWD52 million (US$182.6 million) in the three months to March 31, down from KWD70.9 million a year ago.

Sudan accounted for nearly a third of Zain’s customer base and a fifth of group revenue last year, but the country has been mired in economic turmoil following South Sudan’s succession in 2011.

Zain claimed the depreciation of the Sudanese pound against the dollar, by 53 per cent in the 12 months to end-March, reduced revenue by US$179 million, EBITDA by US$76 million, and net profit by US$44 million.

Group revenue was down eight per cent year-on-year to KWD299 million, while the operator added 1.386 million subscribers in Q113, up from just 37,000 in Q112.

Bharti Airtel says that it has raised US$1.26 billion by selling a five per cent stake in the company to the Qatar Foundation Endowment (QFE) – an investment company owned by the Qatari royal family.

Airtel will issue just under 200 million new shares to QFE representing a shareholding of five per cent in the company, post issuance of the new shares. QFE is paying a 7.3% premium over the public share price for its investment.

In a brief statement, Airtel said that the investment will further strengthen the capital structure and provide further flexibility for the company to deliver on its growth strategy.

The company currently has US$11.7 billion of debt and has been looking to pay down the ratio in advance of further investments in radio spectrum purchases and one-off spectrum fees being applied by the Indian government.

UAE telco, Du has reported a 10.7 per cent rise in its first-quarter revenues to AED2.63 billion (US$715 million), with net profit up 40.5 per cent year-on-year to AED 468 million, thanks largely to cost cutting measures.

The company added 182,261 new customers, taking its total customer base at the end of March to 6.64 million. Du estimates its mobile market share at 48.1 per cent.

Mobile revenues increased by 11.13 per cent year-on-year, reaching AED 2.06 billion, but witnessed a slight decrease of 1.65 per cent on the previous quarter.

The company invested AED368 million during the quarter on capex.

Turkcell has dropped a lawsuit it was filing in the US claiming MTN Group used bribery to deprive it of its Iranian mobile network licence in 2005.

Turkcell said that it is dropping the case because of an earlier Supreme Court ruling on the Alien Tort Statute, which limits lawsuits in the US affecting companies that predominantly operate overseas.

MTN had long argued that any dispute between South African and Turkish companies, over an Iranian issue should not be held in the US.

Turkcell’s lawsuit in the US had been put on hold while the Supreme Court deliberated on an unrelated case affecting the Shell oil company. Shells’ victory in that case undermined Turkcell’s argument to have its case heard in the US.

Turkcell was suing MTN for US$4.2 billion in damages over how its Iranian mobile licence was cancelled and later awarded to the South African company.

MTN, through one of its subsidiaries, owns a 49 per cent shareholding in Irancell, which holds the second GSM licence in Iran. The remaining 51 per cent in the cellco is owned and controlled by Iran Electronic Development Company (IEDC).

Turkcell and its subsidiary, East Asian Consortium (EAC) was originally awarded the licence in 2003.

Turkcell’s near 70 per cent stake was reduced to 49 per cent by the Iranian government in 2005, and by June of that year, the Iranian government had cancelled Turkcell’s licence and started talks with MTN for the concession.