Zain has issued a statement confirming that the merger agreement between Zain and Paltel announced earlier this year will not take place, because Zain did not receive the required government approvals that were a condition precedent to concluding the deal.

In May, Zain and Paltel signed an agreement for a share-for-share exchange, which was to see Zain take a majority interest in Paltel with an equity shareholding of 56.53 per cent in exchange for Paltel owning 100 per cent of Zain Jordan. Paltel was a publicly-listed entity on the Palestinian Stock Exchange and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. The merger would have set the current Paltel shareholders’ equity position in both Paltel and its newly acquired subsidiary, Zain Jordan at 41.43 per cent.

Samir Heleila, a Paltel board member, told the Palestinian news agency Ma’an that the dispute was based on conditions the Jordanian finance ministry had set for Zain and a refusal by Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian National Authority, to approve the deal.

The merger was expected to generate more than US$1 billion in annual revenues and an estimated US$300 million in net income this year, Zain executives estimated.

Paltel owns and operates Jawwal, a mobile network with more than 1.5 million subscribers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Ciena Corporation, the network specialist, announced that it has been selected as the successful bidder in the auction of substantially all of the optical networking and carrier Ethernet assets of Nortel’s Metro Ethernet Networks (MEN) business. Ciena has agreed to pay US$530 million in cash and issue US$239 million in aggregate principal amount of 6 per cent Senior Convertible notes due 2017 for a total consideration of US $769 million for the assets.

A motion to approve Ciena as the acquirer was heard by bankruptcy courts in the US and Canada on December 2.

“These optical and carrier Ethernet assets bring exceptional technologies, talent and scale that will accelerate Ciena’s current strategy to deliver innovative network solutions to customers worldwide,” said Gary Smith, Ciena’s CEO and president.

“With this combination, we are bringing together complementary technologies in switching and transport to create an innovative powerhouse with the scale to challenge the industry status quo and offer customers a practical path for transitioning to automated, optical Ethernet-based networking. We will be intently focused on integration as we work together to deliver the benefits of this transaction to customers, employees and shareholders.”

The assets to be acquired generated approximately US$1.36 billion in revenue for Nortel in 2008 and US$556 million (unaudited) in the first six months of 2009. Ciena is expected to make employment offers to at least 2,000 Nortel employees to become part of Ciena’s global team of network specialists.

The transaction is expected to close in the first calendar quarter of 2010.

The Essar Group is to acquire a 51 per cent stake in the telecom operations of the Dhabi Group, an investment company led by Abu Dhabi’s royal family. Essar Group is reported to be paying around US$150 million for stakes in Warid Telecom Uganda and Warid Telecom Congo.

The agreement was signed by Sheikh Nahyan Mabarak al Nahyan, chairman of the Dhabi Group, and Prashant Ruia, group chief executive of Essar in Abu Dhabi in the middle of November. The enterprise valuation of the Uganda and Congo operations collectively is estimated at US$318 million. Essar already has a presence in Kenya’s telecom sector through its operation branded ‘Yu’, with the Indian operator looking to strengthen its foothold in the African market.

The Tata Group is another telco from India that is expanding its base in Africa, and already owns a 56 per cent stake in South Africa’s second fixed line operators Neotel.

Essar also holds a 33 per cent stake in India’s Vodafone Essar. MobileStore, Essar’s retail chain, has over 1,300 stores countrywide. The group owns Essar Telecom Infrastructure, one of the largest independent telecom tower infrastructure providers in India.

Warid Telecom also operates in Pakistan and Bangladesh, but these markets were not included in the deal with Essar.

UAE based Du reported a 51 per cent rise in its subscriber base over the past year to 3.14 million customers endQ3 09.

Revenues for the quarter amounted to AED1.33 billion (US$362 million) consistent with the previous quarter and up 25.8 per cent year-on-year. EBITDA came in at AED297.3 million, representing an increase of 22.8 per cent quarter-on-quarter, and 192.9 per cent year-on-year.

Net profit (before royalty) was AED157.1 million for the quarter, up 398 per cent on the same period last year and up 36 per cent quarter-on-quarter.

During the third quarter Du’s pre and post paid mobile subscriber numbers saw continued growth with the addition of 25,900 postpaid mobile subscribers, representing a 55 per cent increase in subscriber additions over the second quarter as a result of a continued marketing strategy to increase market share. Post-paid customers represent 3.6 per cent of Du’s mobile business. Prepaid mobile subscribers witnessed the addition of 207,300 subscribers over the quarter.

Du’s capital expenditure programme is set to exceed AED 2 billion in 2009, with AED 424 million accounted for during Q309 bringing year to date expenditure to AED 1.47 billion.

Mikkel Vinter, CEO of Dubai-based MVNO Friendi Group today announced that the service provider has reached 100,000 subscribers in Oman, just six months after commercial launch at the end of April this year.

In August, Vinter told Comm. that within two months of launch in Oman, Friendi Mobile added 50,000 subscribers. The significance of this progress can be brought into better focus when comparing the entrance of Friendi Mobile with the last time a new player launched in the Omani market. Nawras, Oman’s second licensed telecom provider launched as a mobile player in March 2005, when mobile penetration stood at around 35 per cent. Despite the easier competitive landscape at the time, it took Nawras two months to reach the 50,000 subscriber milestone; the same amount of time it took Friendi Mobile in an environment of 120 per cent penetration and three other competitors.

“We crossed 100,000 subscribers in Oman last week, which is equal to three per cent market share,” Vinter said this afternoon, speaking at the North Africacom conference in Cairo. “I am very happy with this achievement compared to international MVNO benchmarks and our own targets,” he added.

Friendi Group has plans to introduce other MVNO operations in markets across the Middle East, Asia and Africa, and is believed to be close to reaching an agreement with Jordan Telecom to establish an operation in the country. Friendi Group already possesses a license to offer reseller services in Jordan.