Mobility to its balance sheet for the first time, even though the handset unit reported a significant loss.

Revenue for the quarter ended June 30 rose to US$12.21 billion, with Motorola accounting for US$1.25 billion (10 per cent) of the total.

Motorola‘s results were included from May 22, the date the acquisition closed, to the end of the reporting period – described as a “stub quarter” by Google. The unit reported an operating loss of US$192 million.

“We can expect Motorola to continue to show some accounting variability, as is typical with the closing of such large transactions,” said CFO Patrick Pichette.

“We’re excited about the potential to build great devices for users,” said CEO Larry Page with regards to Motorola. He added that the recent launch of the Nexus 7 tablet had generated “rave reviews.”

Google reported Q2 net income of US$2.79 billion up from US$2.51 billion a year earlier.

Nokia announced a sharp fall in sales leading in Q112, resulting in a loss of €1.4 billion (US$1.73 billion) for the period.

During the three months (April to June) volumes of its Windows Phone-powered Lumia range increased to four million units. However, it also noted that on a sequential basis, the average selling price (ASP) of the Lumia range fell to €186 from €220.

With the company having shipped 10.2 million smartphones during the quarter, this means that Symbian and MeeGo devices still make up more than 60 per cent of these sales.

Sales for the quarter amounted to €7.5 billion, down 19 per cent from €9.3 billion. On an operating level, the loss amounted to €826 million, compared with a loss of €487 million in Q2 2011.

In its Smart Devices unit, net sales fell by 34 per cent to €1.5 billion, as volumes fell by 39 per cent to 10.2 million units. More encouragingly, average selling prices increased both year-on-year (up seven per cent) and quarter-on-quarter (up six per cent) to €151, aided by stabilisation in the Symbian portfolio.

Stephen Elop, Nokia CEO noted that Nokia’s mass-market Mobile Phones unit “demonstrated stability,” with a two per cent year-on-year increase in shipment volumes to 73.5 million. However, sales for this business declined by 11 per cent year-on-year to €2.3 billion, with average selling prices dropping by 14 per cent (six per cent over the prior quarter) to €31.

It was noted that volumes of its higher-priced feature phones were impacted by “competition from more affordable smartphones and from competitors with broader portfolios of feature phones with more smartphone-like experiences, such as full touch devices.”

As a whole, the Devices & Services business saw an operating loss of €474 million, compared with a prior year loss of €216 million, on revenue of €4 billion, down from €5.5 billion. Total volumes fell by five per cent to 83.7 million units.

Elop said that for the Location & Commerce division, “our business with auto-industry customers continued to grow, and we made good progress establishing our location-based platform with businesses like Yahoo, Flickr and Bing”. This unit reported an operating loss of €95 million on sales of €283 million, up four per cent.

Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) saw an operating loss of €227 million for the quarter on sales of €3.3 billion, down from €3.6 billion a year earlier. Elop said that this business “returned to underlying operating profitability through strong execution of its focused strategy.”

Nokia said that on a year-on-year basis, NSN experienced a decline in sales of infrastructure equipment as well as slower operator investment environments in certain markets, including Europe. This was partially offset by a slight increase in services sales.

Ericsson reported that net sales in Q212 to end-June increased one per cent year-on-year to SEK55.3 billion (US$8.13 billion), and was up nine per cent quarter-on-quarter. However, net income fell a staggering 63 per cent in the quarter to SEK1.2 billion from SEK3.2 billion a year earlier. The company said net income was impacted by lower profitability in Networks and increased loss in ST-Ericsson.

“In 2010 we made a conscious decision to gain market share and increase technology and services leadership, well aware of the short-term profitability pressure. Our focus is now on translating these gains into sustainable profitable growth," commented Hans Vestberg, Ericsson and president and CEO.

Ericsson explained that Networks sales decreased 17 per cent year-on-year to SEK27.8 billion due to the expected decline in CDMA equipment sales as well as weaker sales in China and Russia.

Global Services and Support Solutions showed strong performance, up 26 per cent and 47 per cent year-on-year respectively, with Ericsson describing that the underlying business mix, with higher share of coverage projects than capacity projects, was unchanged in the quarter and is expected to prevail short-term.

The rules governing India’s upcoming 2G auctions are unlikely to be finalised in time for an August 31 deadline, India’s Department of Telecom’s Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) has warned.

In a meeting last week, the IMG said that the failure of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) to reach agreement on whether to back controversial plans for high base prices for spectrum – and how operators should continue to pay for existing spectrum – has delayed the process.

According to a Business Standard report, the IMG says that an auctioneer can be selected only after the final guidelines were issued, adding the selected auctioneer would require adequate time for designing the auction, owing to its complexity.

The process is complicated further still by the fact that the EGoM currently lacks a senior minister to lead the body with the power to make decisions. The original incumbent, former finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, resigned from the cabinet to contest the presidential elections, while his successor – agriculture minister Sharad Pawar – quit as head of the EGoM after just three days.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended a base price for a nationwide licence at INR36.22 billion (US$689.6 million) – over ten times higher than the prices set in a 2008 auction for the same airwaves.

Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys will step down from the company at the end of August 2012 and will be succeeded by former Vodacom SA MD Shameel Joosub. Uys will stay on at Vodacom until the end of March 2013 in order to assist in the handover process.

Uys has spent almost 20 years at Vodacom, including four as CEO, a position he took up in 2008. He took over from Vodacom’s first CEO, Alan Knott Craig, who moved to Cell C earlier this year after a brief retirement.

In a statement, Uys said: “I have had a fantastic two decades with Vodacom and will cherish many happy memories. I’m hugely proud of our people: together, we have created a powerful and trusted brand at the centre of our customers’ daily lives. It’s now time for change, and I will leave Vodacom confident that the business will prosper under Shameel’s leadership.”

Joosub is currently the CEO of Vodafone Spain. He was previously MD of Vodacom SA and a director of the Vodacom board between 2000 and 2010 before moving to Spain. He will take up his new position on September 1.

Uys will join the management team of Stellenbosch-based investment firm Remgro in April 2013 on a full-time basis, also joining the company’s board of directors.

Remgro, which emerged from Rembrandt — the tobacco and industrial conglomerate founded by Anton Rupert — was, through VenFin, one of the early investors in Vodacom. It sold its stake in the mobile operator to the UK’s Vodafone in 2006.

It continues to be a significant investor in the technology sector, with stakes in Seacom, Dimension Data subsidiary Britehouse, Dark Fibre Africa investor Community Investment Ventures, and Chinese advertising network VisionChina.