Zain Saudi Arabia confirmed it received a request, dated November 16, from a representative of Mobily to commence arbitration procedures in relation to Mobily’s demand that Zain pay Mobily the amount of SAR2.21 billion (US$587 million), which Mobily alleges that Zain owes it under a services agreement, dated May 6, 2008, entered into between Zain and Mobily. The latter also demands that Zain compensate Mobily for damages allegedly suffered by Mobily, in the amount of SAR58.7 million, as a result of non-payment of the alleged amounts due.

In a statement Zain commented that it does not understand the basis for Mobily’s arbitrary demands, given that it has requested Mobily to explain its position for some time. Zain further commented that it has used Mobily’s network pursuant to the agreement, and it has always reviewed the demands sent by Mobily that are supported by documentation. In its opinion Zain has always settled payments in a timely fashion, except for a currently outstanding amount of approximately SAR13 million, according to its unaudited records.

Zain does not consider that the agreement enables this dispute to be subject to arbitration.

Hans-Holger Albrecht, the president and CEO of Millicom is to stand down from his position at the end of the year.

The company’s board of directors will now embark on a search for a replacement with a committee including chairman Cristina Stenbeck and two company directors formed for the task.

Tim Pennington, the company’s CFO, is to be interim CEO and will work closely with members of the board to ensure key strategic initiatives and priorities for 2015 continue to be executed.

Albrecht became CEO on November 1, 2012 and worked to transform Millicom from purely a telecoms company to one offering a broader range of ‘digital lifestyle’ services for customers of its Tigo brand in Latin America and Africa.

The operator group — which has more than 50 million subscribers across 14 countries — aims to generate US$9 billion in sales by 2017, driven by growth in digital services, such as mobile data, broadband, pay-TV and mobile banking. It generated revenue of US$5.16 billion in 2013.

Saudi operator Mobily requested a referral to arbitration after falling out with domestic rival Zain over what it claims is an unpaid bill.

The two signed an agreement back in May 2008 to cooperate across a range of services including national roaming, site sharing, transmission links and international traffic.

Mobily claims it is owed SAR2.2 billion (US$587 million) as of November 2013. Since then the operator has tried unsuccessfully to reach an amicable settlement with its rival. Hence the decision to revert back to arbitration.

Both companies have appointed their own arbitrators and are in the process of finding an independent umpire, said Mobily in a statement to the Saudi stock exchange.

The company has already had to provide SAR1.1 billion against total receivables due from Zain as of October 30, 2014.

The agreement between the two companies is, however, still valid, although Mobily said it generates only “irregular” payments from Zain for the service provided.

Ooredoo Qatar has launched its nationwide LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) services so that its customers can now enjoy downlink data speeds of up to 225 Mbps. To do this, Nokia Networks upgraded the operator’s LTE network with LTE-A Carrier Aggregation. This is the first commercial LTE-A deployment with carrier aggregation in the country.

Carrier aggregation is a key feature of LTE-Advanced, enabling operators to create larger, virtual carrier bandwidths for services by combining separate spectrum bands, thus boosting network capacity and speed as well as performance. Through its LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation, Nokia Networks helps operators worldwide achieve the highest possible data rates, including the world’s first three commercial LTE-Advanced networks in Korea.

Vodafone Qatar has decided against buying Qatar National Broadband Network (QNBN), the country’s state-owned fixed broadband operator; two months after it announced a non-binding agreement with the firm.

The deal would have been worth around US$57 million and would have seen Vodafone Qatar, the smaller of the two mobile operators in the country behind Ooredoo, fully own the broadband operator.

Vodafone provided no explicit reason for the decision, simply stating that “following a due diligence and negotiation process, the parties have determined not to proceed with the transaction”.

QNBN is in the process of rolling out a fibre network across the country and has contracts with both Vodafone Qatar and Ooredoo for the provision of wholesale broadband capacity, so avoiding possible duplication.