Eissa Al Suwaidi has been appointed chairman of Etisalat Group, and in addition to his new appointment, Al Suwaidi serves as an executive director at Abu Dhabi Investment Council. He is also a director of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company for Distribution, International Petroleum Investment Company, Abu Dhabi Fund for Development and Emirates Investment Authority. He also serves as the chairman of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank.

Eissa Al Suwaidi has been appointed chairman of Etisalat Group

Six new board members have also been appointed to the Etisalat board. The new appointees are Abdullah Salem Al Dhaheri, Mubarak Rashid Al Mansouri, Shoaib Mir Hashim Khoory, Abdullah Mohammad Saeed Ghobash, Essa Abdulfattah Kazim and Mohammad Hadi Ahmad Abdulla Al Hussaini.

Etisalat is 60.03 per cent-owned by the Emirates Investment Authority, which is owned by the UAE government, and the chairman and government board representatives are directly appointed by His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE and the Ruler of Abu Dhabi by federal decree.

Research In Motion (RIM) reported that in the three months to June 2, 2012, the company reported a loss of US$518 million, compared with a prior-year profit of US$695 million, on revenue of US$2.81 billion, down from US$4.91 billion.

During the period, the company shipped 7.8 million smartphones and 260,000 tablets. This compares with 13.2 million smartphones and 500,000 tablets in the same quarter in fiscal 2012.

Providing something of a positive, the company said that the overall BlackBerry subscriber base continued to grow, with increases in all regions except for North America.
Internationally, revenue fell during the period, reflecting price pressure due to competition, and sales of its aging device line – a refresh is currently underway.

The handset manufacturer also stated that its first BlackBerry 10 (BB10) device will now not be available until the first quarter of 2013, saying that the integration of key features into BB10 has been “more time consuming than anticipated,” pushing back the launch from late 2012.

RIM also confirmed its anticipated job cuts, although the size of the cull – around 5,000 staff from a workforce of 16,500 – was larger than many expected.

Thorsten Heins, president and CEO of RIM, said that “I am not satisfied with these results and continue to work aggressively with all areas of the organisation and the board to implement meaningful changes to address the challenges, including a thoughtful realignment of resources and honing focus within the company on areas that have the greatest opportunities.”

Moving forward, the company plans to “streamline the BlackBerry smartphone product portfolio to offer a fewer number of devices in the market at any given time.” By streamlining its range, it will reduce R&D costs, increase economies of scale, reduce marketing and sales complexity, and “provide a distinct offer for each targeted market segment.”

Heins noted that the company’s long-anticipated LTE PlayBooks “are in the final stages of testing with certain carrier partners, and we expect to launch these in the near future.”
The company also warned it is anticipating an operating loss in the second quarter of fiscal 2013, as it continues to develop BB10 against a backdrop of falling BlackBerry 7 sales. It also noted “pressure to reduce RIM’s monthly infrastructure asset fees.”

The Iraqi regulator has fined two of the country’s three mobile operators for failing to meet last year’s deadline for listing on the local stock exchange, reports Reuters.

According to Ahmed Alomary, commissioner of Iraq’s Communications and Media Commission (CMC), Asiacell has been fined US$8,500 per day going back to September 1, 2011 (about US$2.55 million to date), while third-placed Korek Telecom has been fined US$2,500 per day. The decision on whether to fine market-leader Zain, which has also yet to list, is apparently still under discussion.

Alomary told Reuters that the fines have been approved by CMC and the two operators will be informed today.

The three firms acquired 15-year licences for US$1.25 billion each in 2007. Under the terms of the licences, all three were required to list on the Iraq Stock Exchange by August 2011 though none have done so, believing the relatively new exchange was ill-equipped to handle the IPOs.

According to the latest Wireless Intelligence data, Asiacell – majority owned by Qtel – had 9.4 million mobile connections in Q1, giving it a 37 per cent market share, behind market-leader Zain (50 per cent) and ahead of third-placed Korek Telecom (13 per cent), a France Telecom affiliate.

Nawras has signed an agreement with Huawei to upgrade its Radio Access Network (RAN) by advancing all sites to enhanced 3G+ and increasing coverage, in-building penetration, capacity and the speed of the entire network. At the same time Nawras will be launching 4G LTE technology.

The Oman operator is launching a LTE FDD 4G network in the 1800MHz spectrum band, and together with the TRA’s release of two more 3G+ frequencies, Nawras is looking to at least triple its mobile broadband capacity. This upgrade programme is due to begin in August in Al Amerat.

Around 30 per cent of sites will be upgraded before the end of the year and customers are forecast to immediately notice the difference as they start to receive fast 3G+ and 4G services. The 4G LTE network will cover all major areas of Muscat governate including Ruwi, the central business district, Wadi Kabir, Muttrah, Qurm, Azaiba, Al Khuwair, Ghala, Baushar, Mawaleh and The Wave, by the end of the year. All major cities will enjoy LTE coverage by June 2013.

In addition to the launch of 4G LTE, 3G+ population coverage will rise dramatically from 53 per cent to 97 per cent over the next three years including greater coverage in remote areas across Oman. At the same time as new 3G+ sites are being introduced, the WiMAX home broadband network will be extended further.

Qatar Telecom (Qtel) has offered to buy the remaining 47.5 per cent stake it does not already own in Kuwaiti unit Wataniya, a Kuwaiti bourse statement said on June 26.

Based on Wataniya’s current market capitalisation of US$3.97 billion, the stake is worth about US$1.9 billion, Reuters data estimates.

"Wataniya shares were suspended from trading temporary based on the financial market authority’s instructions. The authority has received a bid from Qatar Telecom to takeover the entire transferable shares of the company," the bourse statement said.

Qtel is being advised by Barclays Capital and the investment banking arm of National Bank of Kuwait, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The Qtel offer was submitted to Kuwait’s Capital Markets Authority, which is reviewing the proposal, the source said. Based on the authority’s recommendation, Wataniya can review the offer and appoint financial advisors to evaluate it.

Qtel bought the Wataniya stake in 2007 for approximately US$3.7 billion. Kuwait Investment Authority, the Gulf state’s sovereign wealth fund, has a 23.5 per cent stake in Wataniya and the remaining shares are publicly held.

New Kuwaiti capital markets bylaws, introduced last year, requires any entity that acquires more than 30 per cent of a listed Kuwaiti firm to bid for the remaining outstanding shares within 30 days.

Wataniya, whose chief executive resigned earlier in June, has operations in Kuwait, Tunisia, Algeria, the Palestinian Territories, Saudi Arabia and the Maldives. In April, it reported a 90-per cent drop in first-quarter net profit, with earnings from the prior-year period boosted by a one-off fair value gain.

Qtel has been raising stakes in its subsidiaries recently.

Earlier in June, Qtel agreed to double its stake in Iraq’s No. 2 operator Asiacell to 60 per cent for US$1.47 billion as it seeks to exploit rising demand for broadband.

Qtel also owns a majority stake in Omani telco Nawras.