Ooredoo today reported revenue for Q113 to end-March 2013 amounted to QAR8.442 billion (US$2.32 billion), up 5.2 per cent year-on-year and driven by strong performance in the group’s home market of Qatar, in addition to further strong momentum from international group operations in Algeria, Indonesia and Iraq.

As at March 31, the group’s consolidated customer base stood at 91 million (Q112: 84.4million), representing year-on-year growth of 7.7per cent. Group EBITDA in the period decreased by 3.1 per cent year-on-year to QAR3.7 billion, while Q113 EBITDA margin stood at 44 per cent, down from 48per cent a year earlier.

Net profit attributable to Ooredoo shareholders rose to QAR808 million, up 13.6 per cent year-on-year, including the impact of the increased shareholding in Asiacell and Wataniya.

Revenue in Qatar grew by 4.9 per cent year-on-year to QAR1.6 billion, while EBITDA decreased to QAR771 million, down 3.4 per cent. Ooredoo Qatar’s consolidated customer base stood at 2.7 million at the end of Q113, up 300,000 from a year previously.

In Q113 Asiacell delivered revenue of QAR1.7 billion, up 5.6 per cent year-on-year. EBITDA in Q1 was down slightly by 1.7 per cent year-on-year to QAR900 million.

Mobile satellite services operator Thuraya has selected Ericsson as the sole vendor for its circuit-switched core network. Under the agreement, Ericsson will upgrade the Thuraya circuit-switched core network, implement a billing mediation solution and provide support services for five years.

The core network upgrade includes a hardware upgrade of Thuraya’s Mobile Switching Centre (MSC), and hardware and software enhancements for the Home Location Register (HLR), Operation Support Systems (OSS) and Multi Mediation platform.

Ericsson’s relationship with Thuraya began more than 15 years ago when Thuraya and Hughes International awarded the first network contract to Ericsson in 1997.

Nigeria’s Globacom is reported to have awarded a US$500 million network upgrade contract to ZTE, just days after it handed a US$750 million contract to Huawei.

The ZTE contract is for works that are to be carried out in just four months.

Globacom’s group COO, Mohamed Jameel said that the expansion project will involve network upgrade and overhaul of infrastructure across the country as well as expansion and densification projects.

The TDM network will also be upgraded to a fully integrated Generalised Multi-protocol Label Switching (GMPLS).

Part of the upgrade will include installation of new base stations and densification of existing ones; setting up of three new mini call centres and upgrade of the radio access network.

The contract signing comes just after the mobile network secured a loan syndication agreement to fund network upgrades.

Zain Saudi Arabia has secured an extension on the maturity of US$3 billion worth of loans, although for just another five weeks.

The extension applies to two tranches of debt – the largest being a US$2.4 billion Islamic loan that was originally due to be repaid in 2011 but has been repeatedly extended.

The company also secured an extension on a separate US$600 million loan that was due to be repaid this week.

Zain Saudi Arabia said in a stock-market statement that it will use the new extension to try and secure fresh loans with a five-year maturity.

Zain Group owns a 37 per cent stake in the Saudi operator.

Alcatel-Lucent reported first-quarter revenues that rose by 0.6 per cent to €3.23 billion (US$4.23 billion), but dropped back into a loss of €353 million, compared to a profit of €259 million a year ago.

This included restructuring charges of €122 million and a financial loss of €152 million.

Gross margin came in at 29.4 per cent of revenue for the quarter, compared to 30.2 per cent in the year ago quarter and 30.4 per cent in the fourth quarter 2012. The year-over-year decline in gross margin mainly results from unfavourable product mix.

Alcatel-Lucent’s new CEO, Michel Combes, commented: "Alcatel-Lucent’s first quarter results reflect both encouraging trends in the marketplace and good progress with The Performance Program, for which discipline on execution remains the priority in 2013."

In terms of revenues, Networks & Platforms grew six per cent year-on-year with high single digit growth in IP and good traction in Wireless, Fixed networks, Platforms and Services, all partially offset by a double-digit decline in Optics.

Focused Businesses declined at a double-digit rate compared to the year ago quarter, with Enterprise at a mid-single digit rate and Submarine at a faster pace.

From a geographic standpoint, also adjusted for constant currency and compared to the year ago period, North America reached historical highs as a percentage of total revenues (48 per cent), resulting from strong growth in the region. While Japan showed good traction and China stabilised, the Asia Pacific region declined at a low single digit rate. Cautious spending persisted in Europe, which declined at a rate of 10 per cent. Rest of world declined at 10 per cent, where growth in Brazil was offset by weakness in the rest of Central and Latin America and Middle East and Africa.