Zain today acknowledged a press statement issued by French conglomerate Vivendi that “it (Vivendi) is interrupting talks, started some weeks ago, with Zain, to acquire a majority stake in its African telecommunications activities.”

In its first public statement on the future of its African operations, Zain today confirmed it is conducting a strategic review with the aim of maximising shareholder value.

“The strategic review process may result in the sale of Zain’s operations in Africa excluding Morocco and Sudan (the “African assets”),” Zain said in a statement. “Several parties have already expressed their interest in acquiring Zain’s African assets and the board of directors of Zain has, therefore, decided to give these parties access to information as part of a process to allow them to formulate proposals.

UBS is acting as lead financial adviser to Zain.

In a statement issued on July 9, Vivendi said the acquisition of Zain’s African assets would enable Vivendi to capitalise on its experience of developing mobile telephony in Africa, but confirmed that at this stage, there is no certainty that the discussions currently in progress will lead to a successful outcome.

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Qtel today announced that it had successfully reached the milestone of two million mobile customers in Qatar, having reported a surge in sales in July, driven by the popularity of its Hala service and the increasing interest in Shahry – Pay Monthly, the a post-paid service.

Qtel has experienced accelerating growth within the Qatari market in 2009, registering 1.8 million customers in March 2009. The official population of Qatar stood at 1.65 million, according to the Qatar Statistics Authority (QSA), translating to a penetration rate of 121 per cent.

The incumbent’s strong performance in the past six months has been linked to the entry of the second telecoms provider, Vodafone Qatar, which was set to launch its mobile services commercially earlier this year, but is now set to do so sometime in Q3.

France-based media and telecom conglomerate Vivendi has formally confirmed it is holding talks to buy a controlling stake in Zain’s African mobile phone businesses.

In a statement Vivendi confirmed its interest in acquiring a majority stake in the Zain group’s telecommunications activities in Africa, in line with its strategy of seeking growth opportunities in emerging countries. The company said this acquisition would enable Vivendi to capitalise on its experience of developing mobile telephony in Africa, but at this stage there is no certainty that the discussions currently in progress will lead to a successful outcome.

In any event, Vivendi said it will examine this investment according to its usual profitability criteria and will adhere strictly to its usual principles of financial discipline. Meanwhile, the Financial Times cited sources close to the negotiations that Vivendi made an informal offer to Zain, which valued the African assets at US$10 billion-US$11 billion. The sources claim that the French media and telecoms company was considering purchasing a majority stake in Zain’s African businesses of between 51 and 65 per cent. Zain has mobile operations in 15 African countries having acquired Celtel, for US$3.4 billion in 2005.

Friendi Group, which operates Omani MVNO Friendi Mobile, has launched a programme called Reach Out that is set to provide Friendi Mobile customers in Oman and those out of the country with competitive mobile international call rates.

The first phase of the Reach Out programme is the launch of a partnership between Friendi Group and Idea Cellular of India. Friendi Mobile customers in Oman are now able to call Idea subscribers in Kerala at rate as low as 139 Bz (US$0.36) per minute, the lowest international mobile call rate from any mobile provider in Oman to India. Idea subscribers in Kerala will also benefit from a reduced rate when calling Friendi Mobile customers in Oman, with all calls charged at only INR 9.19 (US$0.19) per minute.

“The Reach Out programme is a major strategic initiative for our group, and the partnerships with leading mobile operators globally are allowing us to offer our customers in the SAMEA region even better international call rates and innovative new services,” commented Mikkel Vinter, CEO of Friendi Group. Friendi Group will soon be launching similar partnerships in other countries including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Philippines as well as selected countries in Europe.

Friendi Mobile launched commercial operations in Oman on April 28 this year.

On June 30, WiMAX operator Wi-tribe announced the official launch of its wireless broadband service in Pakistan, its largest market to date. The launch phase will include the cities of Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, and Rawalpindi.

“Today, a new milestone is achieved in the evolution of Wi-tribe and the realisation of our vision to become one of the top 20 telecom players by 2020,” commented Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al-Thani, chairman of Qtel Group. “Following our launch in Jordan, Pakistan marks a major stepping stone towards our expansion strategy and our intention to leverage the scale and strengths of Qtel Group in order to deliver the latest technologies to our customers and continue to enhance services across our operations.”

Wi-tribe is a focused and dedicated consumer wireless broadband provider that will offer instant connectivity with applications tailor-made and simplified to accommodate the needs of every customer. The Wi-tribe service will deliver broadband Internet access through the ‘plug in and play’ option offering speeds of 256Kbps, 512 Mbps, and 1 Mbps.

There are already a number of established WiMAX players in Pakistan, including Wateen Telecom and Mobilink Infinity. Wi-tribe’s launch comes on the back of its acquisition of a 75 per cent stake in Burraq Telecom in May 2007. Burraq is an established operator licensed to offer a full range of telecommunications services across Pakistan, including long distance international and wireless local loop.