Vodacom Tanzania plans to invest US$100 million through 2012 and 2013 to boost its network coverage and the addition of more mobile services, according to Rene Meza, the company’s MD.

"The company’s growth is based on the fast expanding subscriber list, mobile financial services arena and voice services, and these are appropriate for an emerging economy like Tanzania," he told local media.

The US$100 million investment is set to cover the growth in network coverage capacity, recruitment of agencies, expanding M-pesa services, new technologies and the offer of new corporate solutions.

Vodacom recently signed a five-year contract with Nokia Siemens Networks to upgrade its network.

Motorola Mobility has said it expects to miss its earlier forecasts for its Q411 revenues and profits. Although the company has not finalised its financial results for the fourth quarter, it estimates sales of US$3.4 billion with modest profitability on a non-GAAP basis.

These estimates include shipments of approximately 10.5 million mobile devices, of which approximately 5.3 million were smartphones.

Motorola Mobility’s fourth quarter results were impacted by the increased competitive environment in the mobile device business and higher legal costs associated with ongoing intellectual property (IP) litigations.

The company estimates sales of US$900 million for the Home business in the fourth quarter. Motorola Mobility will issue its Q4 earnings results on January 26, 2012.

The company continues to work with Google to complete the proposed acquisition of Motorola Mobility as expeditiously as possible. The company notes that the transaction remains subject to various closing conditions, and currently expects the transaction to close in early 2012 once all conditions have been satisfied.

Taiwan’s HTC has reported a 25 per cent decline in its fourth quarter profits to TWD11 billion (US$364 million).

Sales for December alone also fell, by 20.3 per cent to TWD26.3 billion.

The company had previously warned that sales at the end of the year could be lower than earlier forecasts due to "uncertainties from new models".

However, profit for the whole of 2011 rose by 57 per cent to TWD67 billion.

MTN Nigerian has reignited its plans to invest US$1 billion on its network upgrades this year in order to comply with regulatory demands for improvements in network performance.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) recently warned three of the country’s mobile networks to improve network quality or face fines. The regulator named MTN, Globacom and Airtel as failing to meet minimum standards.

"The investment will relieve congestion and improve the quality of the network," Akinwale Goodluck, a spokesman for MTN Nigeria told Bloomberg News. The funds will be directed toward 2G and 3G, MTN’s core network, and power generators to run transmission stations.

Cameroon is set to gain its third mobile network on January 21, when Set’Mobile launches its services.

The network, founded by local footballer, Samuel Eto’o started selling SIM cards last week and is reported to have already sold out with 50,000 cards distributed.

The country currently has two mobile networks, MTN and Orange, which between them count approximately 10 million subscribers