Facebook said it may extend the deadline for closing the US$19 billion deal to acquire the world’s most popular messaging service provider, WhatsApp.

In its recent quarterly report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Facebook said it agreed to a termination fee of US$1 billion in cash and an issue of common stock shares of the equivalent value if the deal was not closed by August 19, 2014.

The company said it may extend the closing date to August 19, 2015 if the closing conditions applicable to Facebook, other than certain regulatory approvals, have been satisfied.

It added that it expects this to be the case and that the deal should close during the second half of 2014.

The company clearly has confidence that the transaction will go through, but that regulatory approval may not come before the original deadline for the deal to close.

Rivals of WhatsApp were reportedly approached by European Union antitrust officials earlier this month regarding the proposed acquisition.

Sources told The Wall Street Journal that detailed questionnaires were sent to a number of technology and messaging companies, with the aim of gauging how the deal could potentially affect competition in the market.

The move comes ahead of a formal review of the deal by the European Commission (EC), which is unlikely to have taken place had Facebook not requested it, as WhatsApp does not generate enough revenue in Europe to trigger an investigation automatically.

The social networking giant asked the EC to conduct a review covering all 28 countries within the EU in May to avoid the possibility of separate reviews in multiple markets.

The US Federal Trade Commission notified Facebook and WhatsApp about their obligations to protect consumer privacy in April, including the fact that post-merger WhatsApp must continue to honour prior promises made to consumers.

Batelco has reported a 22.4 per cent decline in its second quarter profits as the company was hurt by one-off costs as well as increased competition in its core markets.

The company did not elaborate on what the one-off costs were.

Batelco is estimated to have made a net profit of US$27.6 million for Q214, based on calculations from its first-half financial statement.

Revenues however rose by 14 per cent to BHD194.6 million (US$515.9 million), and the company earned 57 per cent of its revenues from outside its home market, a rise on the 51 per cent a year ago.

The company operates in a number of Middle East and African countries and ended the period with nine million customers.

Zain Group CEO, Scott Gegenheimer is doubtful that 3G will be licensed in Iraq during the course of this year, given the worsening security conditions in the country. Speaking to analysts on a conference call, Gegenheimer said, “I don’t expect 3G (in Iraq) this year. I am not that optimistic about it given that the government has already been involved in shutting down some value added services as part of the country’s security arrangements.”

Earlier this year Iraq’s government said it was seeking to sell 3G licences to the three incumbent mobile networks for at least US$307 million each.

The country’s national mobile networks are limited to GSM services, and while customer growth was initially considerable in a country that lacked reliable telecommunications, the lack of 3G services has been a drag in the past couple of years.

Zain Iraq’s revenues for the first six months of 2014 amounted to US$856 million, with EBITDA standing at US$336 million and net income of US$165 million. The operator witnessed 16 per cent growth in customer numbers year-on-year to reach 16.1 million.

Vodafone Group announced a weak organic Q1 performance in its core European markets, although it claimed there is “evidence of commercial improvement” in Germany, Italy and the UK.

On an organic basis, group revenue fell by 4.4 per cent to GBP10.2 billion (US$17.31 billion), with service revenue falling by 4.2 per cent to GBP9.45 billion.

On a reported basis, revenue increased by 6.2 per cent, with service revenue up 6.4 per cent.

For its European arm, organic service revenue fell by 7.9 per cent to GBP6.45 billion. Contrastingly, its Africa, Middle East and Asia–Pacific (AMAP) business saw growth of 4.7 per cent to GBP2.89 billion.

For the AMAP region, Vodafone said that the rate of growth had slowed in India, following earlier price increases. But data revenue growth has picked-up, as 3G take up continued and the operator made further investments in its 3G network rollout.

Vodacom service revenue was flat, following a 50 per cent mobile termination rate cut in South Africa in April. Its international operations continued to grow off the back of customer growth, higher voice usage, and data take-up, although it also noted “intense price competition”.

Enterprise service revenue decreased, with Vodafone noting “some ongoing competitive pressure in our traditional national enterprise business”. It said that it saw strong growth in strategic areas, with Global Enterprise revenue increasing due to new account wins and extensions, and M2M revenue up 30.7 per cent, driven by increased innovation and a widening range of vertical markets”.

Capital expenditure during the period was GBP1.87 billion, up 83.4 per cent.

LG Electronics reported that a strong performance from its mobile unit, as well as its TV operation, led to a 165 per cent increase in Q2 group profit, as the company also saw record smartphone shipments.

LG Mobile Communications shipped 14.5 million smartphones during the three months, a 20 per cent year-on-year increase. More than one-third of all LG smartphones sold this year included LTE connectivity.

And this has translated to strength in the numbers. An operating profit of KRW85.9 billion US($83.4 million) for the mobile unit ends three consecutive quarters of loss.

Mobile Communications sales increased 16 per cent year-on-year to KRW3.62 trillion, and the company said this is its highest since the first quarter of 2010.

On a group level, LG reported a net profit of KRW411.8 billion, up 164.8 per cent year-on-year, on revenue of KRW15.37 trillion, up 0.9 per cent.