Etisalat has hinted at a wide-ranging restructuring of its business to cope with current challenges.

In a statement, Etisalat said that its board had discussed "the reduction and control of operating expenditures by initiating restructuring and outsourcing plans as a future strategy."

"These suggestions aim to enable Etisalat to cope with the pace of development witnessed in the ICT sectors and face financial challenges that telecom providers across the world, including Etisalat are facing due to rising costs of new technology necessary for organisations to increase their competitive edge in local and international markets, accompanied by drop in revenues of the global telecom industry," the telco added.

Etisalat’s 2011 net profit fell 24 per cent to AED5.8 billion (US$1.6 billion), dampened by a AED1 billion impairment following the recent decision by the Supreme Court of India to cancel 122 2G licences, including that of Indian subsidiary, Etisalat DB. Full-year revenue rose one per cent to AED32.2 billion. Subscriber numbers grew 22 per cent to 167million at the end of 2011.

Etisalat also reduced its capital expenditure during 2011 by 27 per cent to AED4.3 billion following the investment in FTTH in 2010. Capex in international operations was also reduced by “political unrest in Egypt and the on-going uncertainties in India,” which resulted in consolidated capex representing 13.3 per cent of consolidated revenues in 2011 compared to 18.4 per cent in 2010.

"As we develop our international networks and drive greater efficiencies across the group, our overseas operations continue to perform strongly. In particular there were solid performances from Atlantique Telecom in West Africa and Etisalat Misr in Egypt, which witnessed a 40 per cent growth in subscriber numbers,” said Group CEO Ahmad Abdulkarim Julfar.

Research In Motion (RIM) announced that the new BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 will be released for download today. BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 is said to deliver an enhanced tablet experience and allows users to interface with the BlackBerry PlayBook in new ways.

“Building on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet’s proven web browsing, multimedia and multitasking strengths, the new BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 introduces a range of new communications and productivity enhancements as well as expanded app and content support,” said David J. Smith, SVP mobile computing, Research In Motion.

New BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 features include:

• Updated BlackBerry Bridge app
• Improved mobile productivity
• New apps and content
• Integrated email client with a powerful unified inbox
• Social integration with calendar and contacts apps

In conjunction with the release of BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0, RIM is making available an initial release of BlackBerry Mobile Fusion that will include support for managing BlackBerry PlayBook tablets and BlackBerry smartphones in an enterprise. The full release of BlackBerry Mobile Fusion (with mobile device management capabilities for iOS and Android devices) is planned for general availability in late March 2012.

Palestine Telecommunications (PalTel) has reported full-year revenues for 2011 rose by 9.4 per cent to US$522 million. Net income was also up, by 5.1 per cent to US$128 million.

"The Group was able to achieve another impeccable set of operational results despite a difficult year of increased competition, regional turmoil and lingering financial crisis in global markets," commented Sabih Masri, chairman of PalTel.

Fixed line subscribers witnessed 6.1 per cent growth to number 385,000 at the end of the year, with the average monthly revenue per fixed line subscriber reaching US$21.1, up from US$20.2 for the full-year 2010.

PalTel counted 2.42 million mobile subscribers at the end of 2011, representing a year-on-year growth rate of 7.4 per cent. Ninety per cent of the installed base is prepaid.

Blended ARPU per month declined by 1.8 per cent to reach US$15.1 and the decrease was attributable to the lower ARPU of new customers and the offer of larger discounts to customers.

PalTel’s data segment achieved a 44.5 per cent growth rate in the number of ADSL lines, reaching 156,000 lines at the end of the year. This increase in customer base was accompanied by a decline in ARPU, which reached US$18.8 in 2011 compared to US$25.8 in 2010. In addition, the penetration rate of the ADSL (per landline) increased from 29.8 per cent to 40.5% at the end year 2011.

Twitter has admitted copying entire address books from smartphones and storing the data on its servers, often without customers’ knowledge.

Access to the address book is enabled when users click on the "Find Friends" feature on smartphone apps.

Two US congressmen have written to Apple asking why the firm allows the practice on its iPhone, as it contravenes app developer guidelines.

Twitter has said it will update its privacy policy to be more explicit.

The practice came to light when an app developer in Singapore noticed that his contacts had been copied from his iPhone address book without his consent by a social network called Path.

Dave Morin, CEO of Path, apologised and said Path would ask users to opt in to share their contact information.

However, he noted separately that it was an "industry best practice" to upload or import address book information.

iPhone apps by social sites including Facebook, FourSquare, Instagram, Foodspotting and Yelp are also reported to access the address book.

However, Facebook has told the BBC that its app will only upload address information if the user opts to sync their contacts with the website.

Critics have noted that these apps are all available for download from Apple’s iTunes store, even though the practice of copying address book contacts without prior consent appears to violate its user guidelines.

Social networks have said that data taken from smartphones – which includes names, phone numbers and email addresses – is used only to identify friends who used the same service, and notify the user.

Twitter said it would update its app in the wake of the disclosure, and clarify its privacy policy for users.

Telenor is reported to be spending US$374.4 million to increase its stake in VimpelCom to 36.36 per cent and plans to drop its action against VimpelCom that was triggered by the firm’s acquisition of Egypt’s Weather Investments last year.

Telenor is said to be buying the shares from Weather Investments II, which is the investment vehicle through which Naguib Sawiris and his family hold their interests in VimpelCom.

In connection with the transaction, Telenor has withdrawn all its claims against Altimo and VimpelCom in the pending arbitration proceeding, and will work to expand the VimpelCom board to eleven members.

Telenor’s withdrawal of its claims will result in the termination of the VimpelCom shareholders agreement.

"This transaction takes Telenor to approximately the same voting position as a successful outcome of the arbitration process would have achieved, and is therefore a commercial solution we are happy with," said Jon Fredrik Baksaas, Telenor’s CEO. "The withdrawal of the arbitration claim will prevent further dilution of the VimpelCom shareholders, and it will enable a more normal corporate governance situation in VimpelCom. We will work to expand the VimpelCom board to eleven members. Together with the other shareholders we will continue our contribution to the industrial development of VimpelCom as we always have done."

Simultaneously with Telenor’s purchase of VimpelCom preferred shares from Weather, Telenor and Weather have entered into certain put and call arrangements regarding the remaining 71,000,000 VimpelCom preferred shares held by Weather.