Zain has announced that it has received the final tranche of US$700 million from Bharti Airtel as part of the sale last year of Zain’s African networks to the Indian company.

In a statement to the stock market, the company said: “With reference to the June 8, 2010 sale of Zain’s African assets (with the exception of Morocco and Sudan), and specifically to the deferred instalment of US$700 million, we would like to inform you that the company has received this amount, in accordance with the agreement of the transaction, in which the sum was to be paid one year after the transaction, conditional on the completion of both the final approvals and the of the sale and transfer of property.”

It should be noted that the amount was calculated as profits in the financial statements of the second quarter of 2010, and therefore will not have any effect on the financial statements for the current quarter of 2011.

MTN Group announced that its global subscribe base has passed the 150 million mark, after it added 8.4 million customers during the first four months of 2011. The cellco has networks in 21 countries.

Group revenue improved only marginally mainly as a result of the continued strengthening of the Rand against the US dollar and increased competition. Due to political unrest, operational performance has been impacted negatively in Cote d` Ivoire and to a lesser extent in Yemen and Syria.

Had there been no movement in the exchange rate, revenue and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) would have been meaningfully higher. Total revenue was still driven primarily by voice revenue however non voice revenue contribution continues to increase.

MTN`s capital expenditure was lower than anticipated to the end of April mainly due to slower than planned rollout in Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana. However, a significant amount of the capital expenditure originally anticipated for the period has already been committed.

The MTN board also decided that the creation of a formalised subsidiary company board for the international operations will not be progressed at this point in time.

Qualcomm is looking to launch a 4G based service in India by the end of this year, as it nears signing a formal agreement with a local partner.

The company acquired a block of radio spectrum in last year’s 3G/BWA auctions and said at the time that it would deploy a network then look to sell its stake in the company.

Speaking to Business Line, Kanwalinder Singh, president, Qualcomm India and South Asia, said, “We had earlier announced a four-step strategy for our broadband venture – to invest in spectrum, accelerate the ecosystem, to introduce one or more operators as partners and eventually exit. We are at the third step and we are in talks with operators.”

The company’s local holding subsidiary is 74 per cent owned by Qualcomm – the maximum permitted by Indian law – while Global Holding and Tulip Telecom hold 13 percent each.

Qualcomm holds one slot of 20 MHz TDD spectrum in the 2.3 GHz band covering the key telecom circles of Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala. Qualcomm has previously said that its objective is to facilitate the deployment of LTE in the 2.3 GHz band.

The company paid US$1.05 billion for the licences.

Du has signed a services agreement with US communications company Verizon, allowing the UAE telco to offer a comprehensive suite of managed services. The services to be offered to Dubai-based global enterprise customers include Private Internet Protocol (PIP), Ethernet Private Line Service (EPL), and Ethernet Virtual Private Line service (EVPL).

The agreement will give Du access to Verizon’s global PIP network enabling the UAE telco to offer large business customers in the region a complete suite of enterprise IP, Ethernet and data services.

The deal is set to provide many industry leading capabilities and reliability including high-speed user connectivity in major markets, 60+ Ethernet Access Partners, eight-way mesh diversity on trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific routes and more direct routes with lower latency including direct connectivity from Dubai to the US and Europe. Du first launched its Global MPLS and Ethernet services one year ago in partnership with other service providers.

Zain Iraq is reportedly preparing for a stock market listing that will raise an estimated US$80 million for a 20 per cent stake in the cellco, the Kuwait Arabic daily Al-Qabas reported.

The cellco is required to list its shares on the Iraqi stock exchange as a condition of its operating licence within four years of receiving its concession. Under that condition, the listing will have to take place by August 2011.

Zain Iraq recently raised US$400 million in a seven-year debt facility to help fund its network expansion in the country.

The cellco counts 12 million customers, representing over 50 per cent of the country’s mobile phone market. It competes against two other national operators.