The government of Mali has granted a mobile operator licence to a consortium, the Planor-Monaco Telecom International Group – making it the third mobile network operator in the country.

Monaco Telecom is the technical partner in the consortium, which operates through the Malian company, Alpha Telecom Mali, which is understood to be controlled by the local businessman, Apollinaire Compaoré, who owns Télécel Faso in Burkina Faso, and is a shareholder in MTN Côte d’Ivoire.

The consortium paid US$105 million for the 15-year licence, which had been expected to be awarded late last year.

The two existing operators are France Telecom-Orange and Maroc Telecom’s Malitel.

Nokia has reported a profit attributable to shareholders of €202 million (US$272 million) for Q412 to the end of December, compared with a prior-year loss of €1.07 billion, on revenue of €8.04 billion, down 20 per cent year-on-year.

In its core Devices & Services unit, the company saw an operating profit of €276 million, up 36 per cent year-on-year, on revenue of €3.85 billion, down 36 per cent.

Its mobile device volume of 86.3 million units was down 24 per cent year-on-year from 113.5 million, due to drop-offs in both its smartphone shipments (6.6 million units, down 66 per cent) and its mass market terminals (79.6 million, down 15 per cent).

At Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), there was a Q4 operating profit of €251 million, up 275 per cent year-on-year, on revenue of €3.99 billion, up five per cent.

For the full year, Nokia Group saw a net loss of €3.11 billion, compared to a prior-year loss of €1.16 billion, on sales of €30.18 billion, down from €38.66 billion.

Devices & Services saw a full year operating loss of €1.1 billion, compared with a prior-year profit of €884 million, on net sales which fell 34 per cent to €15.69 billion.

Mobile device volume for the full year was 335.6 million, down 20 per cent from 417.1 million, with a drop-off of 55 per cent in smartphone shipments (to 35.1 million) and a 12 per cent drop in mass-market terminals (to 300.5 million).

NSN saw a full year operating loss of €799 million, compared with a €300 million loss in the prior year, on sales of €13.78 billion, down two per cent from €14.04 billion.

Nokia’s net cash position improved by €800 million sequentially, of which €650 million was generated by NSN, though it announced it would not be making a dividend payment to investors for 2012 (for the first time in at least 143 years), helping it “ensure strategic flexibility,” and further solidify its “strong liquidity position.”

The company’s guidance for the current quarter was muted, due to the continued competitive environment in the mobile device market, seasonal weakness, and macroeconomic conditions.

Motorola Solutions announced that its fourth-quarter revenues rose by six per cent to reach US$2.44 billion while net profits jumped to US$336 million from US$184 million a year ago.

Full-year revenues were also up by six per cent to US$8.7 billion. For the full year, government sales were up 12 per cent and Enterprise sales declined five per cent. These results include revenue for Psion, which was acquired on October 1, 2012.

“We strengthened our product portfolio, expanded operating margins, generated US$1.1 billion in operating cash and returned US$2.7 billion in capital to our shareholders,” said Greg Brown, chairman and CEO of Motorola Solutions.

For Q4, government segment sales were US$1.7 billion, up 10 per cent from a year-ago. Operating earnings were US$346 million, compared to US$226 million a year ago.

Enterprise segment sales were down by three per cent to US$733 million. Excluding Psion, sales would have been down 12 per cent. Operating earnings were US$77 million, compared to US$50 million a year ago.

Motorola Solutions’ outlook for the first quarter of 2013 is for revenue growth of 4 – 5 per cent year-on-year. For the full-year 2013, the company expects revenue growth of approximately 5 – 5.5 per cent compared with 2012.

Kenya’s Essar Telecom – which trades as Yu – says that it will skip 3G services and jump directly to building an LTE network.

That is once it has secured the necessary investment funding from its shareholders though. The company is 20 per cent owned by local businessmen Peter Kibiriti and Jos Konzolo, and 80 per cent by India’s Essar Group.

Country manager Madhur Taneja told local media that it is too late to start investing in 3G infrastructure when the rest of the world is moving to 4G.

"If 3G will only be here for a short while, we would rather skip the generation and put our money where the future is."

Yu is the last mobile network in the country offering just GSM services.

Nawras has signed a new financing agreement worth OMR 70 million (US$182 million) with a five-year tenure, for capital expenditure and working capital requirements. The consortium for new financing consists of DBS Bank, HSBC Oman, Mizuho Corporate Bank, and Qatar National Bank. The facility agent for this financing is Qatar National Bank.

Nawras has commenced turbocharging of its network in order to increase speed, capacity and provide wider coverage to give customers a more rewarding experience. The programme includes increased 3G+ capacity offering doubled speeds and greater coverage, launching 4G LTE services as well as a new network footprint. This programme of future proofing the network shall be partially financed by this new facility.