Bharti Airtel’s long-mooted deal to acquire Indian 4G spectrum from Qualcomm could be wrapped up within two weeks, according to sources at Bloomberg.

It is suggested that the Indian market leader will pay INR50 billion (US$928 million) for the Indian firm set up by Qualcomm and its local partners two years ago to buy 4G Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) licences.

Sources say that Bharti will acquire the unit in instalments, initially purchasing the 26 per cent stake currently held by Tulip Telecom and Global Holding Corp, with Qualcomm maintaining 51 per cent ownership for at least two years.

“Qualcomm as the major partner will take all decisions with respect to bringing in any operator partners,” Tulip Telecom chairman Hardeep Singh Bedi told Bloomberg.

Qualcomm paid more than US$1 billion in 2010 for 20MHz of TDD BWA spectrum in the 2.3GHz band covering the key circles of Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala. Bharti already owns BWA spectrum in four other circles and became the country’s first commercial 4G operator in April, launching services utilising TD-LTE technology in Kolkata.

A deal between Bharti and Qualcomm is thought to have been on the table for at least a year, but has been delayed due to problems with Qualcomm receiving the airwaves – an issue now thought to be resolved.

The US firm has consistently said it plans to exit the market once the venture is up and running.

Iliad’s Free Mobile – the low-cost French operator launched at the beginning of the year – revealed that it had signed up 2.6 million subscribers by the end of Q1, claiming to have captured nearly four per cent of the French mobile market in just 80 days.

The firm highlighted figures to show that the total French market had grown by 854,000 subscribers in Q1, suggesting that Free Mobile’s 2.6 million customers included a substantial number of defections from rivals. Market-leader Orange France lost 615,000 mobile customers following Free Mobile’s launch on January 10.

The firm also did well in its traditional fixed broadband business, surpassing five million subscribers for the first time. It added 191,000 new subscribers in the period, which it said accounted for “well over” half of all the country’s broadband net additions.

Iliad’s total Q1 revenue rose 29 per cent to €655.7 million (US$839 million). This included €97.5 million of revenue from the new mobile business.

As the Saudi government prepares to permit MVNO services in the country, local mobile network operator, Mobily has awarded an MVNE management contract to India’s Xius.

Xius will be employing its Mobile Services Platform infrastructure and framework, currently deployed in multiple global locations, which will provide the MVNO with its own separate network components and capabilities.

"We have chosen Xius Mobile Services Platform after an exhaustive selection process that included an extensive list of vendors," said Eyas Al-Hajery, Mobily’s senior executive VP for Wholesale and Carrier Services. "The platform will enable Mobily to provide carrier class comprehensive MNO/MVNE services to potential MVNOs".

ZTE South Africa CEO Cris Fuentes says the Chinese group is terminating its relationship with local firm ZTE Mzanzi, in which it owns 40 per cent. Fuentes is reported to have said ZTE had tried several times to reach an amicable settlement with ZTE Mzanzi, but has been unsuccessful. ZTE Mzanzi successfully asked a court to stop Telkom from rolling out a ZAR 13 billion (US$1.59 billion) network upgrade that had been awarded to Huawei and Alcatel Lucent.

Telkom recently announced it was looking to replace out-dated DSLAM boxes with newer technology as part of its plan to move to an all-IP network designed to enable fixed-mobile convergence and truly differentiated high-speed broadband.

ZTE Mzanzi believed Telkom’s bidding process was not fair and that its tender was never properly considered, despite complying with all of Telkom’s requirements, including those on empowerment and technical capability.

ZTE said the legal proceedings were instituted without its approval and without the backing of its representative on the board of ZTE Mzanzi. Fuentes said the lack of authorisation from ZTE to proceed with the Telkom litigation has been one of the elements that motivated its decision to sever ties. He said the main reason is a lack of consultation with ZTE in Hong Kong in key decisions.

UAE telco Du is reported to be considering bidding for a mobile virtual network operator licence in Saudi Arabia. It was also claimed that Du’s CEO, Osman Sultan confirmed that the company is looking for overseas opportunities.

Du is said to be looking for similar virtual network opportunities in other countries, but no decision has been taken yet.

The telco subsequently put out a statement saying, ‘Evaluating growth opportunities to maintain competitive advantage, increase shareholder value and ensure sustainable growth has and will continue to be the primary focus for Du.

With that in mind, and in the normal course of business, we always keep an eye on any opportunities that might be in the best interests of the company and its shareholders.

Our strategy is, and as always has been, to focus on the UAE. If and when we have anything new to announce, we will communicate details to the market.”