Vodafone Qatar, has lost its CEO, Grahame Maher, who passed away in Qatar, it was announced on November 2.

Chief financial officer John Tombleson will be the acting chief executive, the company said in a statement.

Australia-born Maher died of a heart attack, a company spokeswoman said. He led Vodafone Qatar since 2008, managing the company through a US$1 billion IPO and the rollout of service to the public last year. Vodafone Qatar, which achieved a customer base of 600,000 in September 2010 out of a population of about 1.6 million, became the first domestic competitor to Qatar Telecom QSC.

“Grahame himself made a difference to the lives of everyone he touched,” the company said. “He was a great CEO, coach, mentor, and friend. We will all sorely miss his inspiration and vision, his passion and energy, and his love for all the people he worked with.”

On November 1, Oman telco Nawras witnessed the first day of the trading of its shares on the Muscat Securities Market (MSM), following the completion of its IPO, which raised a total of OMR 182 million (US$472 million). Based on the listing price of Bzs 702 the initial market capitalisation of Nawras was OMR 456 million. At the end of the first day of trading shares closed at Bzs 740 per share, following 8.4 million shares traded, increasing the company’s market capitalisation to OMR 480.6 million.

Late last week Nawras announced the offer price for shares would be set at Bzs 702 per share, which represents the low-end of the Bzs 702 – Bzs 902 guidance detailed in its prospectus.

Following the IPO, 40 per cent of the shares will be in free float, with the Qtel subsidiary retaining 55 per cent of the company, and five per cent held by the original Omani pension funds.

Wataniya Palestine Mobile Telecommunications (Wataniya Mobile), the second licensed mobile telecom company in Palestine, today announced its intention to undertake an initial public offering (IPO) of 15 per cent of its shares followed by a listing on the Palestine Exchange.

Offer period is from November 7 until December 2, 2010

• 38.7 million new shares to be sold – no selldown by existing shareholders at the time of IPO
• Fixed offer price of US$1.30 per share
• IPO to raise US$50.3 million
• Indicative market capitalisation of US$335.4 million
• Retail investors in Palestine to subscribe at branches of HSBC, Arab Bank, Bank of Palestine, Palestine Commercial Bank, Palestine Islamic Bank, Qatar National Bank and Quds Bank
• All proceeds to be used for general business and operational purposes, and to assist the funding of the balance of fees payable under the company’s operating licence

Launched in November 2009, Wataniya Mobile is the second mobile telecom company to have been licensed in Palestine, and currently covers 95 per cent of the Palestinian population in the West Bank.

Total subscriber figures reached 110,835 as at end-December, within six weeks of launching operations, and have subsequently reached 302,404 subscribers as at end-September 2010. This represents a mobile market share in the West Bank of approximately 19 per cent.

Wataniya Mobile is licensed to operate in Gaza; however, due to the existing political situation the company has not currently commenced operations there. The cellco has started planning and preparations for building a network in Gaza, and the intention is to launch in Gaza as soon as practicable.

Existing shareholders in Wataniya Mobile are Qtel Group and the Palestine Investment Fund (PIF). Qtel holds its interest in Wataniya Mobile through a chain of subsidiary companies, which includes National Mobile Telecommunications Company (NMTC). NMTC is a leading international telecommunications company in its own right and is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange.

PIF is a US$850 million investment fund and the largest investor in the Palestinian economy.

The initial plan at the launch of the operation was for 30 per cent of Wataniya Mobile to be IPOed with NMTC holding a 40 per cent stake and 30 per cent would be held by the PIF.

In the nine month period to end-September 2010, the mobile operator generated revenues of US$24.7 million, while revenues for the third quarter of 2010 amounted to US$11.55 million compared to US$9.12 million for the second quarter of the year.

According to Strategy Analytics, global handset shipments grew 13 per cent annually to reach 327 million units in the third quarter of 2010. Apple was a star performer, as it jumped into the top five handset rankings for the first time.

According to the research firm, Apple captured a record four per cent market share, overtook RIM and Sony Ericsson and closed the gap on LG.

Some brands were described as having outperformed, such as Apple, while others underperformed, such as LG and Nokia. LG was said to have lost ground due to a weak smartphone portfolio, while Nokia suffered component shortages that constrained its low-end handset volumes by an estimated several million units.

Other findings from the research include:

• Samsung shipped 71.4 million handsets worldwide during Q310, rising 19 per cent from 60.2 million units a year earlier. Samsung’s global market share reached 22 per cent in Q310. Samsung continues to edge ahead of LG ( nine per cent) and it is just 12 points behind Nokia (34 per cent), the closest it has ever been;
• There is a long tail of second-tier players emerging that are knocking on the doors of the top five players. ZTE, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Huawei and Alcatel are all shipping volumes that are within touching distance of the leading group.

Bharti Airtel has selected IBM , Tech Mahindra and Spanco as partners to drive customer service across 16 African countries. An agreement is expected to be finalised soon.

Under the agreement Bharti Airtel, which owns and currently operates the Zain brand in 16 countries across Africa, will outsource core customer service functions such as call centres and back office as it prepares for significant growth in the region. The mobile telecommunications operator currently counts over 40 million customers across its African operations and is targeting to achieve 100 million by 2013.

The widespread adoption of the business process outsourcing (BPO) model by Bharti Airtel across its operations will also have tangible benefits for development of the sector in each country, create additional job opportunities and develop local talent. The partners will provide services in each market that will sustain and build skills, capabilities and resources.

Bharti Airtel is expecting that the outsourcing of customer service operations will play a key role in making the operator competitive in Africa as it focuses on making mobile communications affordable and available across markets.

Currently over 4,000 people are employed in Africa supporting Bharti Airtel’s customer service operations. Going forward the number of people employed in managing the operator’s customer service functions will increase as Bharti Airtel expands its network and customer base.

Bharti Airtel has operations in Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.