Bharti Airtel is looking to acquire an operator in South Africa, with the market’s smallest operators Cell C and 8ta in the frame, Business Day reported.

The deal would enable the India-based international group to expand its presence in Africa, following its acquisition of a number of assets from Zain in 2010.

It also follows an aborted 2009 attempt by Airtel to acquire MTN, the second biggest operator in South Africa, which was attributed on at least one occasion to demands made by the South African government.

According to the report, fixed line incumbent Telkom South Africa said it has not been approached about the sale of 8ta, its recently-created mobile business.

Telkom has previously identified 8ta as being central to its plan to defend erosion of its core activities through the provision of converged services.

It was noted that with 8ta currently still in the start-up phase, it requires significant investment, potentially making Airtel a strong partner.

Independent operator Cell C is more established, in contrast, but this would also make it a more costly acquisition target.

Zain Group today announced the appointment of Scott Gegenheimer as its new chief executive officer effective immediately. Gegenheimer replaces Nabeel Bin Salamah, who announced towards the end of October this year that he would not be renewing his contract.

Gegenheimer has a 20-year plus working history in the telecom sector, having spent 10 years in various senior management positions at Wataniya Telecom, culminating in his appointment as CEO of Wataniya Telecom Kuwait in 2008; a position he remained in until June 2012. Gegenheimer has also spent time working for technology heavyweights including Cisco Systems and Motorola, and also had a stint working in the financial services industry in the US.

Regarding his appointment, Gegenheimer said: “I am looking forward to the opportunity to work within this great organization, and to make my contribution to its progress.”

Bharti has confirmed pricing for the much-anticipated IPO of its towers arm, indicating that it is looking to raise as much as US$830 million.

Shares in Bharti Infratel are to be priced at INR210 (US$3.86) to INR240, reports Reuters; 188.9 million shares, or 10 per cent of the company, is up for sale, making it India’s largest flotation for two years.

At the top end of the range, the sale will net the firm about INR45.3 billion.

Bharti Infratel will sell about 146 million new shares, while four of its stockholders, including arms of Singapore state investor Temasek and Goldman Sachs, are selling 42.7 million shares, according to a regulatory filing.

However, Bharti Airtel, India’s largest mobile operator which owns about 86 per cent of Bharti Infratel, will not sell any shares.

Bharti Infratel owns 33,660 mobile phone towers and also a 42 per cent stake in Indus Towers, a JV with other Indian operators considered to be the largest towers company in the world.

The IPO will open on December 10 for cornerstone investors and a day later for the public, closing on December 14.

According to Reuters, Bharti Infratel shares will be sold at a discount to global peers, with an enterprise value over EBITDA ratio of 9-10.5x based on the indicated range. This compares to 17.8x at American Tower, 17.2x at Crown Castle International, and 17.6x at Indonesia’s PT Tower Bersama Infrastructure.

Spain has become the first country in the world to offer a fully interoperable Rich Communication Services (RCS) solution, according to the GSMA.

The country’s three largest mobile operators – Telefonica’s Movistar and the local arms of Orange and Vodafone – have launched RCS nationwide using the consumer-facing ‘Joyn’ brand.

RCS is a major play by the operator community to compete more effectively with the over-the-top players. It enables services such as enhanced messaging and voice, video calling and content sharing directly from the phone’s contact book, regardless of the network or device used.

The Spanish operators are initially offering Joyn services via an Android app, with an iPhone app to follow shortly. The first devices with native support for Joyn are expected at the beginning of 2013.

Additional Joyn services such as VoIP and IP-video calling are also in the pipeline.

Telenor is reported to be in talks to merge its Indian operation with those of Tata Teleservices, to provide a stronger competitor to the country’s established major players, Reuters reports.

Such a deal would see Telenor taking a majority stake in the merged entity, with Tata Group reducing its holding. Japan’s NTT DoCoMo, which is also a Tata investor, is set to maintain its stake in the enlarged operation, the report said.

Apparently, the joint business will have permits to operate in all of India’s 22 telecom service regions.

Wireless Intelligence figures show that Tata is currently the sixth largest operator in India, with 78.4 million subscribers, while Uninor is eighth with 42.1 million – although both are set to close some operations in the future.

The combined business is likely to move into fifth place in the market, behind Airtel (185.9 million subscribers), Vodafone (152.7 million), Reliance Communications (134.8 million) and Idea Cellular (115.5 million).

Telenor last week spent US$730 million for spectrum licences in six of the country’s most populous zones, covering a total population of 600 million. It was not awarded permits for Mumbai, Kolkata and West Bengal, where it will now close its units.

Tata withdrew its application for additional frequencies suitable for CDMA networks, with the company currently offering services using CDMA and GSM. It is set to close its operations in Jammu and Kashmir early in 2013, having had its licences cancelled.