Nokia today reported a first-quarter operating loss of €1.34 billion (US$1.8 billion) on costs at Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN)

The loss was burdened by €1.1 billion one-time charges, including about €772 million for NSN. Sales slumped 29 per cent from €10.4 billion a year ago to €7.35 billion, the lowest in almost seven years.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, more than a year after adopting Microsoft’s Windows Phone software over Nokia’s home-grown Symbian system, is struggling to halt slumping handset sales in emerging markets and sliding margins in smartphones.

Nokia also forecast that NSN’s performance would improve in the current quarter.

Nokia stock has lost about 20 per cent of its value in the past week alone after Nokia said April 11 that its main handset business lost money last quarter and will do so again in the current period.

Once dominant in the mobile-phone industry, Nokia’s market capitalisation has fallen by about €70 billion since Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007. In Q112, Nokia’s shipments slid 24 per cent to 83 million phones, the lowest level in almost six years.

Nokia sold approximately two million handsets from its new Lumia line running Windows Phone. Still, its low-end phones failed to cover the costs of its smartphone transition as rivals introduced cheaper touchscreen models in India and China, many based on Google’s Android software.

Colin Giles, a 20-year Nokia veteran who was appointed by Elop in February 2011 to lead Nokia’s sales organisation, will leave Nokia in June for personal reasons, Nokia said today. Giles ran the company’s China operations before becoming executive vice president of sales, and stepped in again last year to revamp the company’s China operations.

Qualcomm reported its second-fiscal quarter revenues jumped by 28 per cent to US$4.94 billion, while net income more than doubled to US$2.23 billion after the company included a one off gain of US$761 million from discontinued operations.

During the quarter, the company received US$1.9 billion in proceeds from the sale of substantially all of its 700MHz spectrum.

Operating income was up by six per cent at US$1.51 billion.

“I am pleased to report another quarter of record revenues and earnings per share, driven by strong demand for 3G- and 4G-enabled devices across both developed and emerging regions," said Paul E. Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm. "We are excited to see the continued growth of 3G and 4G smartphones, as well as new mobile computing devices.”

The company ended the quarter with US$26.6 billion in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, compared to US$22.1 billion a year ago.

Vodafone remains the sole bidder for the UK-based Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWW) after the only other company that had expressed an interest announced that it was pulling out.

India’s Tata Communications had joined the battle for CWW, having shown interest in the telco’s international fibre network. Vodafone was also keen on the fibre assets, although it is understood that CWW’s tax credits would be of equal consideration.

In a short statement, Tata Communications said that it "confirms that it has been unable to reach agreement with CWW on an offer price and therefore confirms that it does not intend to make an offer."

Millicom International reported that its Q112 revenues rose by 8.4 per cent to US$1.68 billion.

However, net profit for the three months fell by 13.1 per cent to US$159 million.

"The EBITDA margin in Q1 was diluted to 44.2%, as a result of a change in our revenue mix, an acceleration of investments in new categories and pricing pressure in some markets. We are currently implementing various pricing initiatives in the markets experiencing negative growth to improve our affordability perception,” commented Mikael Grahne, president and CEO of Millicom.

In Latin America, where the company generates 80 per cent of its revenues, the top line grew by 9.2 per cent in local currency in the first quarter, in line with the average growth reported over the past twelve months. Mobile data now accounts for close to 12 per cent of revenues in Latin America.

In Africa, top line growth in local currency slowed to 5.4 per cent in Q1 with Ghana, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo showing negative growth while Tanzania and Rwanda continued to report strong performance, supported by the success of mobile financial services. Margins in Africa were negatively impacted by the level of elasticity experienced so far following price reductions that were introduced last year.

In the first quarter of 2012, 26 per cent of customers had an ARPU in excess of $10, while only 10.7 per cent of total customer base were mobile data users.

Grahne added that he believes that cross-selling and up-selling services to their existing customers will enable the company to continue growing revenues and EBITDA, while generating attractive returns.

UAE telco Du has launched a new Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) service platform based on iDirect evolution technology. The addition of this new platform to the company’s satellite data services portfolio brings more value to its bouquet of business offerings.

Under its VSAT offerings, Du provides integrated end-to-end solutions for corporate and enterprise customers, delivered over a redundant backbone infrastructure. Du VSAT offerings include: IP VSAT; managed data network services over satellite; and satellite integration solutions. Additionally, Du will offer a complete line of high quality and high performance Internet, intranet and Extranet solutions on VSAT.

“VSAT represents a significant addition to our corporate and enterprise offerings. It provides a solid new base from which remote businesses – such as those in the oil and gas industry – are able to ensure reliable, consistent communications at all times. It will bring further convenience and flexibility to such industries,” said Farid Faraidooni, chief commercial officer of Du.