MTN Group announced it had just over 170 million customers at the end of March – a rise of 3.7 per cent over the figure three months ago.

MTN’s domestic network in South Africa contributed 13.3 per cent to group subscribers and delivered a sound performance in a mature market. It increased its subscriber base 3.2 per cent for the quarter. Blended ARPU declined 7.9% mainly due to a reduction in interconnect rates. Postpaid and prepaid ARPU decreased 6.7 per cent and 8.1 per cent respectively.

MTN Nigeria contributed 25.1 per cent to group subscribers and increased its subscriber base by three per cent for the quarter. Net connections of 1.258 million were negatively impacted by a nationwide strike in January and aggressive competition.

Local currency ARPU declined by 1.1per cent for the quarter.

MTN Irancell contributed 21.6 per cent to group subscribers. On a proportional basis, reflecting MTN’s 49 per cent ownership, its contribution was 11.9 per cent. It grew its subscriber base by 6.2 per cent and increased its share of the market for the quarter. Local currency ARPU increased 3.7 per cent due to improved network quality. Competition is expected to increase when a third mobile operator launches commercially before the middle of this year.

Earnings at France Telecom (Orange) dipped seven per cent in Q1 due to a “turbulent” French market caused by the launch of low-cost rival Iliad at the beginning of the year.

Group EBITDA fell to €3.4 billion (US$4.45 billion) from €3.7 billion a year earlier, while revenue declined 1.8 per cent to €10.9 billion. French sales, which account for almost half of the group’s total, fell 4.2 per cent to €5.4 billion.

The launch by Illiad’s Free Mobile in January was responsible for Orange losing over 600,000 mobile customers in France during Q1, but the operator also noted that a national roaming contract signed with the new entrant partially offset the decline in domestic revenue.

The group’s Rest-of-the-World unit saw sales rise two per cent (to €2.1 billion) on the back of a 6.8 per cent rise in Africa and Middle East.

The group counted 225 million customers at the end of Q1 (excluding MVNOs), a five per cent increase year-on-year, including 166.2 million mobile subscribers, an increase of 7.1 per cent.

Motorola Mobility announced a loss for the first quarter of 2012, as its device shipment volumes fell.

The company shipped a total of 8.9 million devices during the period, of which 5.1 million (57 per cent) were smartphones. This compares with 9.3 million devices, including 4.1 million smartphones (44 per cent), in the first quarter of 2011.

It also said it had shipped 100,000 tablets, down from 300,000 in the same period in 2011 (and from 200,000 in the previous sequential quarter).

North America remains Motorola’s biggest region by far in device terms, accounting for 54 per cent of revenue. Its second biggest market is Latin America, which accounts for 21 per cent of the total.

The handset business recorded an operating loss of US$121 million, compared with a prior-year loss of US$89 million, on revenue of US$2.19 billion, up three per cent from US$2.13 billion.

On a group level, including its home business, Motorola reported a net loss of US$86 million, compared with a loss of US$81 million in Q1 2011, on revenue of US$3.08 billion, up two per cent from US$3.03 billion.

With regard to its planned US$12.5 billion acquisition by Google, Motorola said that it and its proposed parent “continue to work closely with the authorities in China for approval on the acquisition.” It was announced recently that the deal is seeing extended scrutiny in China.

Motorola said that “we continue to expect the transaction to close during the first half of 2012.”

Bharti Airtel reported weaker-than-expected profit and revenue for its latest quarter as higher costs, fierce price competition and regulatory uncertainty impacted results.

For its fiscal Q4 (ending March 31), the Indian cellco reported a 28 per cent decline in net profit to US$200 million, though revenue rose 15 per cent to US$3.7 billion. For the full year, net income was down 30 per cent to US$890 million, while revenue was up 20 per cent to US$14.9 billion.

In a statement, Airtel said the shortfall in annual net income was impacted by 3G licence fee amortisation (US$135 million), 3G interest costs (US$95 million), forex fluctuation losses (US$87 million) and tax provisions (US$82 million).

Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and MD, also noted that “the recent regulatory developments in India will have significant implications on the future of telephony and broadband, as well as India’s global competitiveness.”

Airtel’s total customer base rose 14 per cent year-on-year to 252 million, stretching across 20 countries. This included 188 million mobile subscribers in India and its other Asian markets, and 53 million in Africa.

Quarterly revenues were up by 10.5 per cent at the India & Southeast Asia unit (to US$2.7 billion) and by 16 per cent in Africa (US$1 billion). 

IHS Africa, a Nigeria-based telecom infrastructure company, is planning to deploy multi-operator solar powered cell sites in a bid to slash its diesel consumption by up to 50 per cent in the next two years.

The company, which manages cell sites on behalf of operators in Nigeria, Ghana, Sudan and South Sudan, plans to invest US$45-50 million in solar power technology to cut diesel use from its 4,000 generator powered cell sites in West Africa.

IHS has already opened the first site, a multi-operator installation that consists of solar panels covering an area of 96 square metres and capable of producing a total capacity of 12 kilowatt peak (kWp) of electricity. The installation will supply electricity to three mobile network operators, with further room for expansion.

Site access is often difficult in rural areas and connection to an electricity grid is seldom possible or prohibitive in price, so a stand-alone power system is often required, according to IHS.

The company currently has 4,000 towers under management, and owns 900 towers for collocation with each tower having guaranteed 99.9% uptime for electricity.