Millicom International has announced that its president and CEO, Mikael Grahne is to step down from the position at the end of October. He is being replaced by Hans-Holger Albrecht, currently the president and CEO of Modern Times Group, an entertainment broadcasting group.

Hans-Holger has also been a member of the Millicom board of directors since May 2010 and will step down from this role with immediate effect.

Grahne has served as Millicom’s president and CEO since March 2009, having joined Millicom in February 2002 as COO.

Foreign investors will be able to buy stock in the UAE’s Etisalat, according to local media reports.

Etisalat Group CEO Ahmad Abdulkarim Julfar is quoted as saying Emirates Investment Council is currently working on amending the law to allow foreign ownership of Etisalat shares. It remains unclear how much of the telco could be owned by overseas investors.

Etisalat operates in 18 countries across Asia, the Middle East and Africa. It has a presence in markets including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Niger, Central African Republic, Tanzania and Sudan.

Etisalat is currently 60 per cent owned by the government, with the remainder listed on the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange.

Of the listed companies that do permit overseas investors, the majority have limited this to around 25 per cent, although in some cases the stakeholding is permitted to be as high as 49 per cent.

UAE telco Du reported Q2 revenues rose by 12.9 per cent to AED2.5 billion (US$689 million), while net profit surged by 51 per cent to AED651 million.

The net profit margin (before royalty) stood at 26.6 per cent, up from 19.1 per cent in Q211.

Mobile revenues grew by a further 14 per cent year-on-year, reaching AED 1.9 billion, with drivers of performance in this segment continuing to include growth in the company’s customer base, strong minutes of use, and data usage.

At the end of July, Du’s share of the UAE mobile market stood at 46.5 per cent, based on the data published by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) and competitor disclosures. Du now serves a total of 5.73 million active mobile customers.

Chinese telecom technology provider Huawei reported H112 sales revenue of CNY102.7 billion (US$16.16 billion), representing an increase of 5.1 per cent year-on-year. Operating profit amounted to CNY8.79 billion with an operating margin at 8.6 per cent, an increase of 20.3 per cent half-on-half and a decrease of 22 per cent year-on-year.

In the first half of 2012, Huawei’s three business groups – Huawei Carrier Network, Huawei Enterprise, and Huawei Device—achieved considerable progress in technological innovation and market expansion, further consolidating the company’s position as a leading global ICT solutions provider.

Samsung reported a near 50 per cent rise in net profit for the second quarter on the back of strong smartphone sales.

The South Korean electronics vendor reported Q2 net profit of KRW5.19 trillion (US$4.56 billion), up 48 per cent from KRW3.51 trillion a year ago. Total revenue rose 21 per cent to KRW47.6 trillion with the mobile unit accounting for KRW20.52 trillion, a 75 per cent increase year-on-year.

“Handset shipments gained quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year, driven mainly by global orders for premium smartphones,” Samsung said in a statement.

According to figures published by Strategy Analytics, Samsung consolidated its lead as the world’s largest smartphone vendor by selling 50.5 million devices in Q2. It is thought that the flagship Galaxy S3 – launched during the quarter – accounted for 6.5 million in sales.

By comparison Apple announced this week it had sold 26 million iPhones in Q2.

With the so-called ‘iPhone 5’ not due until October, Samsung was upbeat on its prospects in the current quarter. “The smartphone market, in particular, will continue to be profitable as consumers are given a wider choice of new products at a wider range of prices while orders from emerging markets increase,” the vendor said.

At Samsung’s other major units, sales at the semiconductor division declined six per cent to KRW8.6 trillion, while the display panel division’s sales grew 16 per cent to KRW8.25 trillion.