Batelco announced a number of new international operators as part of its Unified Local Data Roaming Rates scheme. Under the telco’s Local Unified Rates, customers pay 600 fils (US$1.56) per megabyte when they roam with the designated international operators.

Batelco introduced Unified Roaming Rates in 2009 for data roaming in a number of regional countries. The original line-up included Saudi Arabia (Al Jawal and Mobily), UAE (Etisalat & Du), Qatar (Qtel), Kuwait (Wataniya and Viva), Oman (Nawras), Egypt (Mobinil), Jordan (Umniah) and Yemen (Sabafon).

Now in this new delivery, Batelco has extended its line up of operators to include providers outside of the GCC and Arab region.

The new countries and operators are: the UK (O2), Spain (Moviles Espana), Czech Republic (O2), and Ireland (O2).

India’s Reliance Communications is reported to be trying to sell off its telecom towers business, and has hired UBS to sell its 95 per cent stake in Reliance Infratel.

The bank has already contacted several private equity groups, two US tower networks, and the UAE’s Etisalat about the deal, the India Times reported.

The tower network owner is worth around US$5 billion, and the funds are needed to help reduce Reliance Communications’ significant debt pile, which stood at around US$7.5 billion in May 2011. The interest on the debt is weighing heavily on the telco’s financial performance.

However, potential bidders have said Reliance’s valuation of the stake is at least US$1 billion too high.

Earlier this year, rival Indian tower network operator, Viom Networks (formerly Tata-Quippo) pulled out of talks to buy Reliance Infratel after the two companies could not agree on a price. Again, Reliance was seeking US$5 billion for the company, which Viom described as “unrealistic”.

The WiMAX Forum says WiMAX technology has broken the 20 million global subscriber mark. According to Infonetics Research, WiMAX technology reached a total of 20 million subscribers at the end of Q211. This number is forecast to rise to 25 million by year-end.

Notable growth has been tracked in the US, the Indian sub-continent, and Latin America. With the levels of operator activity and device ecosystem growing, Infonetics Research forecasts WiMAX subscribers to surpass 100 million by the end of 2015.

In the first half of 2011 UQ Communications of Japan doubled its subscriber base, breaking the one million subscriber mark in June. Also in Asia Pacific, new Malaysian WiMAX operator YTL, which launched WiMAX services in November of 2010, had netted over 300,000 subscribers by June.

In the US, Clearwire and its wholesale partners continue to grow their subscriber base. Clearwire announced that it ended the second quarter of 2011 with 7.65 million total subscribers, up 365 per cent from Q210. Clearwire also increased its guidance to an expected 10 million subscribers by the end of 2011.

Samsung Electronics, the global digital media and digital convergence technologies company, announced strong global financial earnings for its telecommunications segment in Q211 registering a solid quarterly operating profit of US$1.59 billion on revenue of US$11.57 billion.

Samsung’s telecommunications businesses – Mobile Communications and Telecommunications Systems – achieved an operating profit margin of 13.7 per cent for the quarter. The segment also recorded a rise in sales with 43 per cent year-on-year due to strong demand for Samsung’s GALAXY S II smartphone and other mobile devices.

Regionally, Samsung recorded an average of 20 per cent market share in the Gulf countries of UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. The Galaxy S II smartphone, which was recently launched in the region, is expected to increase Samsung’s market share in the Gulf by 10 per cent by the fourth quarter of 2011.

“In the Gulf market we recorded a seven per cent increase year-on-year in mobile communication devices sales for the second quarter of 2011,” said Ashraf Fawakherji, GM of Samsung Gulf Electronics Telecommunication Group.

“In the third quarter, we expect the telecommunication segment to grow steadily by 20 per cent with the continued strong demand of the mobile handsets and the launch of the new portfolio of tablets in the region. We will aim to increase our mobile shipments in the region by 30 per cent in the second half of the year,” he added.

Globally, Samsung’s Mobile Communications business saw revenues rise 45 per cent year-on-year to US$11.11 billion. Shipments of mobile handsets increased in the high-single-digit range quarter-on-quarter driven by brisk sales of smartphones. The average selling price of handsets increased by more than 10 per cent.

Samsung expects market demand for mobile handsets to increase by more than 15 per cent in the second half, driven by consumers upgrading to smartphones.

Google Inc. and Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Google will acquire Motorola Mobility for US$40.00 per share in cash, or a total of about US$12.5 billion, a premium of 63 per cent to the closing price of Motorola Mobility shares on August 12, 2011. The transaction was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies.

The acquisition of Motorola Mobility, a dedicated Android partner, will enable Google to boost the Android ecosystem and will enhance competition in mobile computing. Motorola Mobility will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. Google will run Motorola Mobility as a separate business.

Larry Page, CEO of Google, said, “Motorola Mobility’s total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.”

Motorola Mobility senior management at the company’s listing on the NYSE on January 4, 2011

Sanjay Jha, CEO of Motorola Mobility, said, “This transaction offers significant value for Motorola Mobility’s stockholders and provides compelling new opportunities for our employees, customers, and partners around the world. We have shared a productive partnership with Google to advance the Android platform, and now through this combination we will be able to do even more to innovate and deliver outstanding mobility solutions across our mobile devices and home businesses.”

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of regulatory approvals in the US, the European Union and other jurisdictions, and the approval of Motorola Mobility’s stockholders. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2011 or early 2012.

Earlier this year Motorola Mobility announced first-quarter revenues rose by 22 per cent to US$3 billion, and net loss shrank to US$81 million from US$212 million a year ago.

In the quarter, the company generated US$107 million in operating cash flow, its seventh consecutive quarter of positive cash generation.

Mobile Devices net revenues in the first quarter were US$2.1 billion, up 30 per cent compared with the year-ago quarter. The GAAP operating loss was US$89 million compared to an operating loss of US$192 million in the year-ago quarter.

Motorola Mobility shipped a total of 9.3 million mobile devices, including 4.1 million smartphones and more than 250,000 Motorola XOOM tablets in the quarter to end-March. In comparison, Motorola Mobility shipped 8.5 million mobile devices, including 2.3 million smartphones in Q110.