After continued setbacks, Malawi’s regulator has finally awarded the licence for a third mobile operator to Global Advanced Integrated Networks Limited (GAIN), just days after bids for a fourth licence closed.

Malawian consumers will soon have more choice when a third mobile operator and second fixed-line provider begin operations within the next year.

Malawi’s Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) had previously been criticised for not announcing the winner of the third licence when applications closed in March, instead inviting bids for a fourth licence closing July 25.

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The UAE’s second communications provider du has reported revenues of AED908 million (US$247 million) for the quarter ended June 30, 2008, an increase of 20 per cent quarter-on-quarter and 200 per cent year-on-year.

Du faces the ongoing challenge of adding and retaining subscribers in a highly penetrated market

Mobile revenue accounted for 74 percent of du’s overall revenue in Q208 to end-June, representing an increase of 20 per cent quarter-on-quarter and 341 per cent year-on-year.

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The Indian subcontinent’s swelling appetite for media-rich content and services is expected to propel operator-billed data revenues from US$3 billion in 2008 to more than US$8.3 billion in 2013, a new report from Juniper Research forecasts.

Mobile TV and music downloads in the region are forecast to add substantial data revenues over the next five years.

Entitled The Indian Subcontinent Report covering Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the study forecasts the region’s burgeoning population will bolster mobile user numbers, rising from 431 million in 2008 to nearly 740 million in 2013.

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Indian operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has delayed the opening of bids for its GSM tender until August, following receipt of 21,000 queries from vendors.

BSNL officials had placed a draft tender on the company website, with an estimated contract value of US$6.5 billion, but said the unprecedented number of queries had pushed the opening of bids back.

BSNL plans to add 100 million GSM subscribers by 2010.

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As previously reported in Comm., Egypt’s Orascom Telecom, controlled by billionaire Naguib Sawiris, yesterday announced it is part of a consortium to bring a new wireless operator to Canada, pending regulatory approval.

The consortium has provisionally won AWS (advanced wireless services) spectrum in Canada after submitting the highest bids on spectrum across every region of Canada except Quebec. The consortium is now awaiting final approval by Industry Canada.

The consortium’s bids for spectrum, which covers 79 per cent of Canada’s population, cost almost C$442 million.

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