Omantel has reportedly awarded two contracts to deploy an LTE network, with the Oman Daily Observer reporting that Ericsson and Huawei had won the contracts out of a short-list that had also included Nokia Siemens Networks, ZTE and Alcatel-Lucent.

Ericsson is said to have submitted a bid of OMR13.937 million (US$36.25 million) for its part of the contract and Huawei bid OMR 11.357 million.

Huawei was also recently selected as the preferred bidder for a network upgrade by rival mobile network, Nawras.

Omantel has previously said that its capex budget for 2012 would amount to OMR84 million, of which the LTE component is only a fraction.

Nigeria’s four GSM networks have agreed to settle disputed fines from the telecom regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission that were imposed after the regulator said the operators were missing quality of service standards.

However, as the fine is being paid late by all four companies, there should be a daily late fee included, but it is unclear if the settlement between the regulator and the networks includes that.

MTN and Etisalat were both been fined N360 million (US$2.3 million), while Airtel was fined N270 million and Globacom was served a fine of N180 million.

The operators have disputed the fines as they claim most of the network problems are generally outside their control. The operators have repeated their calls on the regulator to make it easier for them to upgrade their networks and improve electricity supply to base stations.

Nokia has announced the planned loss of 10,000 jobs by the end of next year as it looks to reverse its declining business. While planning to significantly reduce its operating expenses, Nokia also announced an increased emphasis on location-based services.

The planned job losses are expected to come from the closure of its facilities in Ulm, Germany and Burnaby, Canada as well as in Salo, Finland. R&D efforts in Salo will continue though.

Nokia is also making changes to its management team.

"These planned reductions are a difficult consequence of the intended actions we believe we must take to ensure Nokia’s long-term competitive strength," said Stephen Elop, Nokia president and CEO. "We do not make plans that may impact our employees lightly, and as a company we will work tirelessly to ensure that those at risk are offered the support, options and advice necessary to find new opportunities."

In Smart Devices, Nokia plans to broaden the price range of Lumia and continue to differentiate with the Windows Phone platform, new materials, new technologies and location-based services. In line with this strategy, Nokia announced the planned acquisition of assets from Sweden-based Scalado, which currently has imaging technology on more than one billion devices.

Additionally, Nokia plans to extend its mapping technology to multiple industries to generate new revenue.

In Mobile Phones, Nokia intends to improve its competitiveness and profitability. Nokia aims to further develop its Series 40 and Series 30 devices, and invest in key feature phone technologies such as the Nokia Browser.

Taking into account these planned measures the company now targets to reduce its Devices & Services operating expenses to an annualised run rate of approximately €3 billion (US$3.77 billion) by the end of 2013. This is an update to Nokia’s target to reduce Devices & Services operating expenses by more than €1 billion for the full year 2013.

Nokia also announced a number of changes to its senior leadership. The company announced that it has appointed Juha Putkiranta as executive vice president of Operations; Timo Toikkanen as executive vice president of Mobile Phones; Chris Weber as executive vice president of Sales and Marketing; Tuula Rytila as senior vice president of Marketing and chief marketing officer; and Susan Sheehan as senior vice president of Communications.

Jerri DeVard steps down as chief marketing officer; Mary McDowell steps down as executive vice president of Mobile Phones; and Niklas Savander steps down as executive vice president of Markets.

"Nokia is significantly increasing its cost reduction target for Devices & Services in support of the streamlined strategy announced today," said Timo Ihamuotila, executive vice president and CFO. "With these planned actions, we believe our Devices & Services business has a clear path to profitability. Nokia intends to maintain its strong financial position while proceeding aggressively with actions aimed at creating shareholder value."

Nokia has sold a majority stake in its luxury mobile phone subsidiary, Vertu, to the private equity group, EQT VI.

Vertu is headquartered in Church Crookham, UK and employs approximately 1,000 people worldwide.

The transaction, the terms of which are confidential, is expected to close during the second half of 2012, subject to customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions. Nokia will retain a 10 per cent minority shareholding in Vertu.

"With its strong brand, undisputed category leadership and attractive growth outlook, Vertu fits well with EQT VI’s investment strategy. EQT VI is excited about the opportunity to develop Vertu as a standalone company and plans to drive the development of the luxury mobile phone category through significant investments in retail expansion, marketing and product development," said Jan Ståhlberg, partner at EQT Partners, Investment Advisor to EQT VI.

Carlo Alloni has been appointed executive VP and head of operations for Ericsson in the Middle East region. In his new role, Alloni will oversee Ericsson’s operations throughout the Middle East; ensuring customer expectations are met by leveraging the company’s global knowledge network to enable the development of best practice tools and methods throughout the region.

Alloni had previously held the position of president, Ericsson North East Africa, to which he was appointed in 2010. An Italian national, Alloni joined Ericsson in 2001 where he held multiple positions in sales, managed services/business unit Global Services and business unit Networks in a number of Ericsson offices across the globe.