The Libyan government has stopped a process to award a management contract for its state-owned telecom network, the Libyan Post, Telecommunication and Information Technology Co (LIPTIC).

Citing Etisalat’s CEO, Ahmad Julfar, Reuters reported that the tender had been put on hold by the government for unspecified reasons.

Etisalat had been one of the companies bidding in the tender.

A landline monopoly, LIPTIC also owns majority stakes in the country’s two mobile networks that were reclaimed from relatives of the former dictator, Muammar Gaddafi following his downfall.

It was not clear if the tender was for just the landline network, or included the two mobile networks as well.

Ericsson and STMicroelectronics have decided to call time on ST-Ericsson, their loss-making wireless chip joint venture.

As part of the closing down process, Ericsson and STMicroelectronics have each agreed to take some of ST-Ericsson’s assets in-house.

Ericsson has bagged the design, development and sales of the LTE multimode thin modems (including 2G, 3G and 4G multimode), while STMicroelectronics absorbs other existing ST-Ericsson products, plus certain assembly and test facilities.

The formal transfer of assets, subject to regulatory approvals, is expected in the third quarter.

Once the asset split is completed, there is a plan for Ericsson to assume around 1,800 ST-Ericsson employees and contractors, most of who are based in Sweden, Germany, Italy and China. It is also proposed that STMicroelectronics takes on about 950 of the joint venture’s employees, mainly in France and Italy.

The process of closing down the remaining parts of ST-Ericsson, which have not been taken up by the parent companies, has already started. About 1,600 jobs will be cut worldwide.

The announcement to wind down the business comes only days after a Bloomberg report revealed the company’s parents had failed to find any takers for the business, despite searching for a buyer for three months.

According to Reuters, STMicrolectronics is expected to rack up cash costs of between US$350 million and US$450 million as a result of the shutdowns and restructuring.

Ericsson, in a statement, says it has made provisions of SEK3.3 billion (US$510 million) to cover costs related to the wind down of ST-Ericsson. The Swedish manufacturer reckons that the multimode thin modem business it has taken on, to be reported as a standalone segment, will generate operating losses of around SEK500 million in the fourth quarter. The loss primarily relates to R&D expenses, says Ericsson.

To oversee the transition process, Carlo Ferro, ST-Ericsson’s COO, has been appointed as the joint venture’s chief executive. He takes over from Didier Lamouche on April 1, who recently announced his departure to pursue other opportunities.

Saudi Telecom Group’s CEO Khaled Al Ghoneim has resigned after less than nine months in his position, the latest senior executive to leave the operator.

In a statement, STC cited “special circumstances” as being behind his departure, without giving any further detail.

However, Al Ghoneim is only one of several top executives to depart the operator over the last 12 months.

Al Ghoneim was appointed in June 2012 following the resignation of his predecessor Saud Al Daweesh two months previously.

International CEO Ghassan Hasbani also left in 2012. And then last month the CEO for STC’s domestic operations, Jameel Abdullah Al Molhem, departed the company.

Although no explanation has been given for Al Ghoneim’s departure, the company has struggled for profitability. It posted a 79 per cent drop in Q4 profits in January 2013, blaming rising costs and one-off charges at its Indian and South African operations.

No date for Ghoneim’s actual departure from STC was given or a name of his successor.

Etisalat’s shareholders today backed the board’s decision to pay full 2012 dividends of 70 fils (US$0.20) per share at the annual general meeting at the company’s headquarters in Abu Dhabi.

The shareholders also approved the board’s selection of independent auditor and a bonus for the board members during the meeting.

The board proposed the dividend after the release of the 2012 annual results in February, showing the group’s net profit attributable to the equity holders of the corporation before Federal Royalty was AED 13.2 billion.

Etisalat Group sold a 9.1 per cent stake – 775 million shares – in PT XL Axiata (XL), an Indonesian cellco, grossing proceeds of AED1.87 billion.

Ooredoo (formerly Qtel) says that it will be the first network operator in the country to offer commercial LTE services, when it launches next month.

For the past several months, hundreds of Ooredoo customers have been testing the network prior to its commercial launch.

Ooredoo will launch the 4G network starting in Doha, where it has already installed 100 antennas. Ooredoo will roll out the network to the rest of the country in phases.

The LTE service runs on the 800MHz and 2.6 GHz bandwidth frequencies.