The appointment of Pieter Uys as CEO of Vodacom may stifle the future development of South Africa’s largest mobile operator, in a country where indigenisation under the banner of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) is a guiding corporate philosophy.

Uys succeeds Knott-Craig who has been at the helm of Vodacom since 1993.

Uys has been the chief operating officer of Vodacom since 2004 and takes over from Alan Knott-Craig, whose tenure as head of both Vodacom and Vodacom Group will total 15 years, when he steps down this September.

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UAE telco Etisalat today announced the launch of its Roaming Alliance initiative by introducing a special rate for its customers roaming in two of its group networks– Egypt (Etisalat Misr) and Saudi Arabia (Mobily).

Etisalat is looking to expand the roaming deal beyond Saudi Arabia and Egypt in the not-too-distant future

The initiative is part of a strategic vision by the telco to leverage synergies across its group in order to deliver a value proposition to its 64 million customer base and enhance the appeal of mobile services to roaming customers.

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Naguib Sawiris, Egyptian billionaire and CEO of Orascom Telecom Holding, is preparing to invest in the Canadian telecoms market through his company Weather Investments.

Sawiris’ telecoms empire currently spreads across the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe.

Weather will be an investment partner of Globalive Communications, a small private Canadian firm that won licences in Canada’s recent wireless spectrum auction and which currently provides long-distance phone calls at discount rates.

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As reported in Comm.’s July/August issue, Kuwait-listed Hits Telecom has confirmed plans to enter the Spanish market by announcing the acquisition of a 51 per cent stake in Spanish mobile virtual network operator Metrored Movil.

Hits Telecom chairman Bahabri says his type of company represents the third-generation of operator emerging from the Middle East

The €7 million (US$10.96 million) deal will see Metrored Movil launch in September under the Hits Telecom Spain banner and operate over Vodafone Spain’s network.

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Axiom Telecom yesterday made several senior and junior employees redundant with 30 days notice, a source told Comm.

Prior to this wave of redundancies, Axiom employed 1700 people in nine countries

Axiom is the largest distributor and retailer of mobile phones in the Middle East.

The move comes as a surprise in the region’s booming economy where downsizing is almost unheard of, and even more so considering Axiom secured US$400 million in a syndicated term loan facility last month to assist its global expansion plans.

CEO of the company, Faisal Al Bannai, is intent on establishing an MVNO in the region, and last July the company launched a 50/50 venture with India’s leading retailer Pantaloon Retail, giving Axiom a footing in the world’s second largest mobile market.

Axiom has more than 500 outlets, and prior to this wave of redundancies counted 1,700 people across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, London, Egypt and India.