Airtel reported a 72 per cent decline in net income in Q412– its twelfth straight quarterly profit decline – as the India-based mobile giant was hit by higher costs and on-going pricing pressures.

Net income for the quarter ending December 31 fell to INR2.84 billion (US$53 million) from INR10.11 billion a year ago. Sales were up 9.5 per cent to INR202.4 billion.

Profit was hit by higher depreciation costs, interest payments, forex losses and tax provisions.

“Market conditions have been challenging in recent quarters due to pricing pressures and rising input costs, which have put enormous pressure on the sector and consequently the margins,” said Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal.

The pressures in Airtel’s home market were offset slightly by the results from Africa. Airtel’s Africa revenues grew by 15 per cent, supported by a 21 per cent rise in mobile customers, a 42 per cent rise in voice traffic, and non-voice revenue growth of 85 per cent.

Airtel’s total customer base grew by 7.8 per cent year-on-year to 262.3 million, but was down slightly on a sequential basis (-0.1 per cent).

Mobile subscribers at the India and South Asia unit grew by 4.1 per cent to 189.4 million, while Africa mobile subs rose to 61.7 million.

TeliaSonera CEO Lars Nyberg has resigned after an external review of the Nordic operator group’s investments in Uzbekistan criticised how it obtained a mobile licence in 2007.

Nyberg quit after the board refused to give him support in the wake of the report by Swedish law firm Mannheimer Swartling. Per-Arne Blomquist has been appointed as president and acting CEO.

The Swedish law firm was appointed by the Nordic operator group’s board in October last year to investigate allegations of corruption and money laundering connected to its Uzbekistan operations.

The investigation “has not found any substance to the allegations that TeliaSonera committed bribery or participated in money laundering in connection with its investments in Uzbekistan”, a statement from the TeliaSonera board said.

However, TeliaSonera did receive “serious criticism” from Mannheimer Swartling for shortcomings in the investment process and for not making sufficient effort to investigate the local partner or how it “could hold the rights that were later transferred”.

In addition, internal controls were not sufficient to ensure TeliaSonera did not risk becoming involved in any unethical business.

In light of the criticism, the board concluded that the investments “were not carried out in a satisfactory manner”. It added that the company has developed new processes and “stringent risk assessment procedures” for future investments.

The investigation initially examined TeliaSonera’s investment in a 3G licence, frequencies and number blocks in Uzbekistan in 2007. It was later expanded to include more recent investments in connection with Uzbekistan.

TeliaSonera’s conduct in Uzbekistan is still being investigated by the Swedish Prosecuting Authorities. Mannheimer Swartling made “the natural observation that the suspicions of crime expressed by the Swedish Prosecution Authority cannot be dismissed by this investigation”.

The Bangladesh regulator has decided to revamp the planned 3G spectrum allocations in a move that could see more than one foreign company able to secure a licence.

The current draft guidelines would allow one new foreign entrant into the market, but the regulator has decided to split the 50MHz of spectrum into 10 blocks of 5MHz instead of the planned five blocks of 10MHz.

The plan had been to award four licences to incumbent operators, and reserve one for a new entrant. The new plans would allow more new entrants into the market, but also could allow all six existing operators to secure a 3G licence.

Abubakar Siddique, secretary in charge of post and telecommunication said that "the new slot of spectrum would not only help the small operators commercially, but it also paves the way for more foreign operators who are keen to invest here."

He confirmed that the incumbent 2G network operators had consented to the changes.

State owned Teletalk is already offering 3G services, but will be required to pay for its existing licence based on the eventual outcome of the 3G auction.

The auction is due to be held in March.

Qtel Group will take advantage of the upcoming stock market listing of the Iraqi cellco, Asiacell to raise its existing holding in the company, a stock exchange official has told Reuters.

In June 2012, Qtel entered into an agreement to double its shareholding in Asiacell from 30 per cent to 60 per cent, and currently owns just under 54 per cent of the cellco, which is listing 25 per cent of its shares on the Baghdad stock market in a move that will raise around US$1.3 billion.

Although Asiacell is required to list its shares on the stock market as a condition of its operating licence, there has been some ambiguity about which of the current shareholders is selling their stake, or if this would be diluting their existing holdings through a fresh placement of shares.

Layth Sulaiman, head of the ISX board of governors, told Reuters that he understood Qtel would not reduce its stake in Asiacell through the offer.

The shares will be listed from February 3 in what is one of the largest share offerings in the region for several years. The other two mobile networks are also required to list their shares on the stock exchange.

Ericsson reported a loss for the fourth quarter of 2012, resulting from its anticipated SEK8 billion (US$1.27 billion) charge related to its ST-Ericsson joint venture. But the results were well received, due to the fact that there are positive signs for its core operations as 2013 progresses.

Hans Vestberg, president and CEO, noted in a statement that during the last year the company’s performance had been mixed, with its Networks unit in particular having a “challenging” twelve months.

Ericsson reported a fourth quarter net loss of SEK6.3 billion, compared with a profit of SEK1.5 billion in Q4 2011, on revenue of SEK66.9 billion, up five per cent from SEK63.7 billion.

For the full year, it saw a profit of SEK5.9 billion, compared with a prior-year profit of SEK12.6 billion, on sales of SEK227.8 billion, compared with SEK226.9 billion.

In Q4, sales in its Networks business were SEK35.3 billion, up six per cent year-on-year, with this growth “mainly driven by North America”.

CDMA sales were down 18 per cent year-on-year (although up over the previous quarter due to “temporary capacity needs”), with the company noting that this business is “expected to continue to decline as North American operators continue their transition to LTE”.

Global Services sales increased by four per cent year-on-year to SEK28 billion, to represent 42 per cent of group sales in the quarter.

Separately, ST-Ericsson reported a Q4 net loss of US$169 million, compared with a loss of US$241 million in Q411, on sales of US$358 million, down from $409 million.