Sony Ericsson has appointed a new president and reshuffled its board in a bid to revive its flagging fortunes.

Bert Nordberg, the head of Silicon Valley at Ericsson will assume the role of co-president of the Swedish-Japanese telecoms group next month, midway through a major turnaround programme.

Hideki “Dick” Komiyama, Sony Ericsson’s president would retire at the end of the year, the company said.

Howard Stringer, the Sony president responsible for a sweeping cost-cutting exercise at the loss-making Japanese company, has been appointed chairman of the board, taking over the role from Carl-Henric Svanberg, the president and chief executive of Ericsson, on October 15.

In July, Sony Ericsson posted a loss of US$213 million after four consecutive quarters of losses due to falling sales of mobile phone handsets, compared with a US$6 million profit for the previous year.

“Bert Nordberg has a strong track record in the area of business realignment and was instrumental in the transformation of Ericsson in the years 2002-2003,” commented Svanberg. “I am confident he will be able to build upon the foundation Dick has created and lead the final stages of Sony Ericsson’s transformation.”

Qatar Telecom (Qtel) today reported that for the first half of 2009, the group achieved consolidated group revenue of QAR 11.5 billion (US$3.16 billion), up 42 per cent year-on-year. The group’s net profit attributable to shareholders reached QAR 1.6 billion in H109, registering 38 per cent year-on-year growth. At June 30, 2009 Qtel’s consolidated customer base stood at 52.2 million, spanning 17 countries across the Middle East, North Africa and Asia.

Qtel’s EBITDA increased by 36 per cent in year-on-year in H109, increasing to QAR 5.5 billion. The Group’s EBITDA margin held relatively steady during the period at 48 per cent, down from 50 per cent a year earlier.

Marafih believes the rest of the year will be characterised by continuing economic uncertainty, but that Qtel will continue to innovate

In Q209, Qtel achieved consolidated group revenue of QAR 5.9 billion, growth of 30 per cent year-on-year. The group’s net profit attributable to shareholders for the period reached QAR 1billion, registering 59 per cent year-on-year growth. Qtel added 800,000 subscribers during the quarter.

“One of the main highlights during this quarter was the successful execution of key stages in our long-term financing strategy, commented Qtel Group chairman Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al-Thani. “The issue of our inaugural bonds of US$ 1.5 billon under our new US$ 5.0 billion Global Medium Term Note programme in June 2009 was significantly oversubscribed, following a road show to global investors. This was the first global bond of a telecom operator in the GCC region.”

In Qtel’s domestic market of Qatar, the operator extended its range of products and services and deepened its connection with subscribers. Consolidated customer numbers in Qatar grew in H109 by 29 per cent to 2.2 million at end-June.

“We expect the rest of the year to be characterised by continuing economic uncertainty but we continue to bring more innovative products to the market supported by a business that is increasingly consolidating to create long term value,” stated Nasser Marafih, CEO of Qtel Group.

Zain Saudi Arabia has announced the closure of a US$2.5 billion Murabaha financing facility. The funds will be used to repay its existing Murabaha, facilitating the mobile telecom operation’s ongoing network expansion and future growth. The term of the facility is two years with options of extending for a further twelve months. Al Rajhi Capital, Banque Saudi Fransi and Calyon acted as financial advisors, with a total of eight regional and international financial institutions participating in what is one of the largest Islamic financings this year.

“This is an enormous vote of confidence by the international financial community in Zain KSA’s performance to date and its future expansion plans in the region’s largest economy,” said Saad Al Barrak, CEO of Zain Saudi Arabia and Zain Group. “The growth and success of this mobile operation is critical to Zain Group’s 2011 ambition of being a top ten global mobile telecommunications company.”

In less than 12 months, Zain Saudi Arabia has acquired four million customers. For the first half of 2009, Zain KSA reported gross revenues of US$342 million with ARPU of US$19. Zain KSA captured over 50 per cent of total net additions in the mobile telecom market during H109. The company’s network covers 65 per cent of the populated areas, with 85 per cent targeted by the end of 2009.

Nortel Networks Corporation announced a number of leadership changes and a new organisational structure designed to work towards the completion of the sales of the company’s businesses and other restructuring activities with a continued focus on maximising value while preserving Nortel’s innovative technology platforms and employment to the greatest extent possible.

Effective August 10, 2009, Nortel president and CEO Mike Zafirovski stepped down. Also effective on that date, the boards of directors of NNC and Nortel Networks Limited (NNL) reduced from nine to three members: John A. MacNaughton, Jalynn H. Bennett and David Richardson, with Richardson serving as chairperson. These individuals will also serve as members of NNC’s and NNL’s audit committees.

Zafirovski claims Nortel had been making progress, but was negatively affected by the adverse global economic climate

“We’ve reached a logical departure point,” said Harry Pearce, chairman of Nortel’s board of directors. “Mike made a commitment to see the process through the stabilisation of the company, sale of its largest assets and the right plans and people to continue operating our business and serving customers. He has done so. I appreciate the commitment and passion he brought to this company since day one, including his guidance through the extremely difficult decisions we faced since filing for creditor protection.”

Zafirovski commented: “I am extremely proud to have been associated with this company. The board members and I came to Nortel because we really believed in the value of Nortel’s people and technology. Although solid progress was made in many areas, at the end, the capital structure and legacy costs coupled with the economic downturn proved too difficult to surmount. I have tremendous respect for the board of this company and the process we went through to initially transform the company, and since filing, to work to maximise the value of our businesses while preserving employment and customer commitments to the greatest extent possible.”

Concurrent with the aforementioned announcement, Nortel established a structure that will enable the company to effectively continue to serve its customers, and also facilitate the sales of its businesses and integration processes with acquiring companies as well as to continue with its restructuring activities.

• The company’s business units – Wireless Networks, Enterprise Solutions, Metro Ethernet Networks, Carrier VoIP and Application Solutions and the LG-Nortel joint venture – will report to the chief restructuring officer, Pavi Binning.
• The company’s mergers and acquisitions teams will continue their work under the chief strategy officer, George Riedel.
• Nortel Business Services (NBS) will continue to serve the transitional operations needs of Nortel businesses as they are sold to ensure customer and network service levels are maintained throughout the sale and integration processes. NBS will continue to be led by Joe Flanagan.
• A core corporate group is being established that will be primarily responsible for the management of ongoing restructuring activities during the sales process as well as post business dispositions. This group will be led by John Doolittle, formerly Nortel’s treasurer.

Axiata Group (formerly known as TM International) has entered into a collaboration agreement with Dubai-based MVNO, Friendi Group, with the intention of working together to address the communications needs of expatriates working in the markets Axiata and Friendi operate in.

Amongst the areas of cooperation to be explored is the possibility of setting up co-branding and MVNO relationships between the two groups. The terms of the agreement will also look at the provision of content and services.

“Axiata with its pan Asian footprint has a presence in all the targeted countries. The agreement will allow subscribers to reap the benefits of discounted call rates and value added services such as mobile money transfer, remote recharge and content from home,” commented Dato’ Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim, president and group CEO of Axiata.

The agreement will also have the added benefit of allowing Axiata access to the lucrative Middle East market. Axiata operating companies will be able to reach out and capture the market and do business with their own nationals living overseas.

“Signing the collaboration agreement is a mutually beneficial strategic step for both Axiata and Friendi as it will provide the latter preferred partner status with the Axiata subsidiaries across Asia, as well as enable the Axiata mobile operating companies a unique opportunity to engage millions of their nationals that live and work in the geographical region of Friendi”.

The first concrete outcome of the agreement is a linkup between Axiata’s affiliate in India, Idea Cellular, and the local Friendi operation in Oman to provide the customers in Oman and India better and more affordable communication services.

Axiata is one of the largest Asian telecommunication companies, focused in high growth low penetration emerging markets. Axiata has controlling interests in mobile operators in Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Cambodia with significant strategic stakes in India, Singapore and Iran.