Econet Wireless Kenya, which trades under the Yu brand name, has refuted local media reports that South Africa’s MTN has offered US$450 for a stake in the company. The reports are “rumours,” CEO Srinivasa Iyengar told reporters in Nairobi.

The claimed price being offered by MTN coincidentally matches the US$450 million in debt the network recently raised to fund its rollout plan.

Last year, Econet Wireless International (EWI) sold a 49 per cent stake in the company to India’s Essar Communications Holdings. The companies said that the move would significantly benefit Econet Wireless Kenya (EWK), which is 70 per cent owned by EWI, from a rollout as well as product offering perspective.

“Econet is not for sale,” Iyengar is quoted as saying. “Essar is a partner for life.” Econet Kenya will change its name to Essar Telecom Kenya, he also said.

Yu was recently reported to have signed up 200,000 subscribers since it launched last November – and is aiming for one million customers by the middle of the year.

At the beginning of February former Econet Wireless Kenya CEO and managing director Michael Foley unexpectedly resigned just six months after he was appointed to the role. Local reports suggested he quit “to protect his integrity in the midst of a tightening in the company’s liquidity caused by delay in securing credit”, amid reports that the nascent operator was struggling to pay suppliers.

Omantel has announced the resignation of its CEO, Mohammed Al Wohaibi with immediate effect, and his replacement by Amer Al Rawas, the telco’s chief operating officer, as acting CEO.

Al Wohaibi is reported to have resigned for personal reasons

Al Wohaibi is quoted as telling a news agency that he had resigned for personal reasons. Speaking to Comm.’s December 2008 issue, Al Wohaibi said he was presiding over significant change at the telco as it had launched a new business model. “We have appointed new executives to their respective positions in the unified integrated structure. Oman Mobile still has legal obligations to continue as a legal entity until we get all the formal and regulatory approvals to finalise this integration,” Al Wohaibi, said, referring to Oman Mobile’s reintegration back into Omantel.

Oman Mobile was spun off from Omantel in 2004, and Al Wohaibi believed reintegrating the two companies and driving synergies would position the unified operator to better compete in the future.

Motorola today announced a contract worth approximately SAR435 million (US$116 million) with Mobily in Saudi Arabia that marks the fifth major turnkey GSM network expansion that the second-placed Saudi mobile operator has undertaken with Motorola in the past four years. Saudi Arabia’s northwest and southwest regions will benefit from enhanced GSM coverage and capacity.

The turnkey expansion will enable Mobily to expand its network coverage to increase its subscriber base within the kingdom. Motorola will deliver its GSM infrastructure solutions as well as comprehensive range of services.

Motorola has won a number of significant GSM network expansion contracts over the past few years, including expansion contracts with VNPT Group in Vietnam, China Mobile in China, and Celtel Nigeria in Nigeria.

Confirmation that Zain continues to actively assess opportunities for an acquisition in India raises an interesting prospect with respect to the amount the Kuwait-listed company would be willing to pay given the state of the global economy. Foreign investors that tied up deals last year, including Etisalat, Telenor and Batelco, paid high premiums for stakes in the greenfield Indian licensees.

India is a country adding close to 10 million mobile subscribers a month

According to news wire reports, Zain continues to consider investments in Datacom Solutions or Loop Telecom, two companies it had looked at last year. The two privately owned companies hold GSM licences to provide services across India.

Datacom is 64 per cent owned by consumer goods maker Videocon, with the rest being held by a family-owned venture of Mahendra Nahata, the chairman of Himachal Futuristic Communications.

Loop Telecom is a subsidiary of BPL Mobile Communications, and had also held discussions with Telenor before the Nordic operator opted to invest in Unitech Wireless instead. Essar group controls BPL Mobile.

Last August BPL Mobile engaged two advisors to counsel it on the divestment of its majority stake of 74 per cent in Loop Telecom. Back then Loop Telecom was valued at around US$2 billion. The Essar group has a stake of 9.9 per cent directly in BPL Mobile while another 16.1 per cent is owned by Capital Global. The rest of the shareholding of 74 per cent is owned by BPL Communications.

India adds close to 10 million new mobile subscribers a month and counted 376.12 million users at the end of January, according to the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India.

South Africa’s third mobile network operator, Cell C announced that its CEO, Jeffrey Hedberg has resigned with immediate effect and been replaced by Lars Reichelt, who recently headed up Bangladeshi network, Banglalink.

Reichelt, left, is a former CEO of Banglalink and has been appointed to lead Cell C

Hedberg will continue in his role as chairman of Virgin Mobile South Africa (VMSA), which has a reseller agreement with Cell C. “I will work closely with the VMSA management team during its re-positioning. I am also currently considering new and challenging roles, within and outside of the Oger Group and look forward to building on the success that I had in South Africa.

Hedberg joined Cell C in May 2006, replacing long-term CEO Talaat Laham. Hedberg is a former CEO and chairman of Deutsche Telekom USA, while Laham went on to join Bahrain based Hits Telecom, as the head of its Africa operations.

Cell C ended last year with an estimated 6.34 million customers, representing a market share of 13.5 per cent. Having launched in November 2001, Cell C is still yet to record a profit.