Zain today announced its consolidated financial results for the half-year, to June 30, which the operator said reflected a healthy growth in several key performance indicators.

For the first half of 2010, the Zain Group recorded consolidated revenues of KWD 672.6 million (US$2.33 billion), an increase of 10 per cent year-on-year. The company’s consolidated EBITDA reached KWD 287.2 million. Net income was up 488 per cent to reach KWD 895.3 million, and included the capital gain of KWD 770.3 million from the sale of Zain Africa assets on June 8, 2010.

Upon the conclusion of the sale of Zain Africa, Zain Group received cash proceeds of US$7.868 billion, of which proportionate capital gain profit is reflected in the H110 net income results.

“The company has reengineered itself with a new and dynamic management team both at group and in several country operations,” said Zain Group CEO Nabeel Bin Salamah. “We are focused on further increasing our market leadership in all our Middle East operations.”

Zain provided mobile voice and data services to over 34.2 million active, proportionate customers as at end-June 2010 with a commercial presence in eight countries. Subscriber numbers were up 28 per cent year-on-year.

Nawras is reported to be planning to float a 40 per cent stake in the Oman bourse in September, with the official date of the IPO said to be September 1. However, the accompanying roadshow is set to be delayed for around a fortnight until the end of Ramadan.

It is reported that the IPO will be open for investors of all nationalities.

As part of its licensing conditions, Nawras is required to list 40 per cent of the company on the domestic stock exchange in 2010.

“It is a condition of our Nawras licence that we conduct an IPO in 2010. Our plans remain in line with that. No formal announcements have been made as of yet, though we do remain prepared to complete this IPO in 2010,” Nawras CEO Ross Cormack confirmed to Comm. last month.

Nawras is 55.6 per cent held by the Qtel Group, 14.4 per cent by Danish telco TDC, with the remainder being held by Omani institutions including the Ministry of Defence Pension Fund, Royal Office Pension Fund, Diwan of Royal Court Pension Fund, Internal Security Service Pension Fund and Sultan’s Special Force Pension Fund.

A ban on the use of the BlackBerry mobile devices in Saudi Arabia was averted on August 6, the date that Saudi regulatory authorities had threatened they would suspend services enabling the sending and receiving of messages from the devices.

It has been reported that RIM (Research in Motion), the Canada-based manufacturer of BlackBerry devices, reached a preliminary agreement with Saudi authorities whereby the manufacturer agreed to place a server in-country, in order for messages to be scrutinised by third-parties, as necessary.

While RIM encrypts e-mails, its deal with Saudi authorities would allow them to be opened by Saudi surveillance. A number of countries, including the UAE, Indonesia and India see the devices as a potential security threat because encrypted information sent on them is difficult, if not impossible, for local governments to monitor when it does not pass through in-country servers.

RIM has not commented officially on the proposed deal, but referred to a statement it issued last week denying it has given some governments access to BlackBerry data.

The arrangement in Saudi Arabia is similar to deals RIM has struck in Russia and China. Thus it is expected that RIM is likely to reach a compromise in the UAE, a country in which services are scheduled to be suspended on October 11 should nothing have changed.

However, the requirement of regulatory bodies in the Gulf requiring access to data transmitted over BlackBerry devices looks set to escalate. In Bahrain, for example, the country’s leading telco Batelco recently issued a statement letting subscribers know it would do everything in its power to minimise inconvenience should authorities there require it to suspend any BlackBerry operations.

“We want to assure all our BlackBerry customers that Batelco is working on alternative offers to minimise any inconvenience should some services be suspended,” said Batelco group general manager Media Relations, Ahmed Al Janahi.

“We will fully comply with any directive to suspend some BlackBerry services, should such be issued, as this is a legal obligation on Batelco. It’s not proper to speculate what the specific alternative offers will be at this stage. Our marketing and sales teams are finalising such offers. We believe that no Batelco customer should be financially penalised if limitations are placed on some BlackBerry services – we will address all customers’ concerns as quickly as practicable,” he added.

The UAE’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority today confirmed that BlackBerry Messenger, BlackBerry E-mail and BlackBerry Web-browsing services in the UAE will be suspended as of October 11th 2010. The regulator explained that the suspension is a result of the failure of ongoing attempts, dating back to 2007, to bring BlackBerry services in the UAE in line with UAE telecommunications regulations.

Both telecommunications operators – Etisalat and Du – were informed of the decision earlier today, and subsequently sent messages out to their subscribers. The notification was delivered with an instruction to ensure minimal consumer disruption in the provision of alternative services.

All BlackBerry services fall within the UAE regulatory framework developed by the TRA since 2007, however because of BlackBerry ’s technical configuration, some BlackBerry services operate beyond the enforcement of these regulations.

BlackBerry data is immediately exported off-shore, where it is managed by a foreign, commercial organisation. BlackBerry data services are currently the only data services operating in the UAE where this is the case.

Today’s decision is based on the fact that, in their current form, certain BlackBerry services allow users to purportedly act without any legal accountability.

Motorola reported a slight fall in second-quarter revenues to end-June of US$5.4 billion, compared to US$5.5 billion a year ago. Net profit for the quarter was up markedly to US$162 million from US$26 million a year earlier.

Sales at Motorola’s Mobile Devices segment amounted to US$1.7 billion, down six per cent year-on-year. Profits were US$87 million, which included income from a significant legal settlement of US$228 million, compared to an operating loss of US$287 million in the year-ago quarter.

Home segment sales were US$886 million, down 13 per cent compared with the year-ago quarter. GAAP operating earnings were US$29 million, compared to US$18 million in the year-ago quarter. Non-GAAP operating earnings were US$57 million, compared to US$49 million in the year-ago quarter.

Enterprise Mobility Solutions segment sales were US$1.9 billion, up 10 per cent compared with the year-ago quarter. GAAP operating earnings were US$181 million, compared to operating earnings of US$141 million in the year-ago quarter. Non-GAAP operating earnings were US$292 million, compared to US$225 million in the year-ago quarter.

Networks segment sales were US$967 million, down two per cent compared with the year-ago quarter. GAAP operating earnings were US$178 million, compared to US$92 million in the year-ago quarter. Non-GAAP operating earnings were US$191 million, compared to US$147 million in the year-ago quarter.

Earlier this month it was announced that Nokia Siemens Networks will acquire the majority of Motorola’s networks business. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the year.