Nokia Networks announced two deals that will bolster the network implementation services it offers customers, with the US a particular area of focus.

The acquisition of SAC Wireless, an infrastructure and network deployment solutions vendor based in Illinois, is touted as complementing Nokia’s in-house expertise in the US and bringing “clear revenue synergies”.

Nokia said the addition of SAC should also allow it to address the complexities that often hinder rollouts “head-on”.

No financial details were given for the transaction, which is expected to close in the third quarter of the year, subject to regulatory approval.

Nokia also announced the acquisition of advanced geolocation capabilities from Nice Systems, to help with the planning and optimisation of mobile networks. The deal gives the infrastructure vendor access to tools, technical expertise and the rights to develop the technology further.

The technology uses 3D modelling to provide more accurate data in performance of multivendor networks. Nokia said the technology “helps to provide deep insight into traffic trends and the performance of mobile broadband networks”.

Mobily has signed a US$200 million agreement with Export Development Canada, to fund the purchase of equipment from Alcatel-Lucent to upgrade/enhance its network.

While the details of the supply deal were not revealed in the filing with the Saudi Arabia stock exchange, earlier this year Mobily and Alcatel-Lucent said they were working together for the first deployment globally of virtualised radio access network software, from the vendor’s NFV portfolio.

According to Alcatel-Lucent, Mobily was the first operator to launch TD-LTE services, and has the largest active HSPA base in the MENA region.

The new loan is described as Shariah-compliant, and also involved Credit Agricole, Societe Generale, and Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi. It has a total tenor of 10.5 years, and will be used over a period of two years.

According to GSMA Intelligence figures, Mobily is the second-largest operator in Saudi Arabia, with just under 20 million connections, behind market leader STC, with 23.2 million.

Zain Saudi Arabia is the third-placed player, with 8.4 million connections.

GBI, a leading service provider that owns and operates a major subsea cable network in the Middle East, has forged a partnership with Datamena, carrier-neutral data centre and connectivity platform based in the UAE, which will extend GBI’s network from the Du’s landing station in Fujairah to the Datamena data centre in Dubai.

The extension of the GBI network will enable all Datamena customers to benefit from seamless end-to-end connectivity within the GBI network in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, and will further enhance their Datamena experience.

GBI is increasingly becoming the major carrier for telecom operators and governments throughout the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia offering capacity on the first ever network built with redundancy configurations in the Gulf region ensuring the end-user connectivity anywhere and at all times.

GBI’s global network connects the Middle East to Singapore towards the east and Egypt on the west, using two alternative terrestrial routes to protect traffic, crossing the Mediterranean to Italy and other major European cities. GBI has also succeeded in creating true diversity by establishing the “North Route” providing connectivity from GCC to Europe via Iraq and Turkey.

The partnership will allow GBI to join the Datamena’s rapidly growing ecosystem of over 50 customers, who interconnect through the UAE-based neutral platform, provided in alliance with Equinix.

Samsung’s second-quarter earnings are expected to be “not that good” according to chief financial officer Lee Sang Hoon, despite the release of the Galaxy S5 during the three-month period.

In the first quarter, Samsung reported that quarterly profit from its IT & Mobile Communications unit – which includes its handset business – fell year-on-year because of lower sales in the highly competitive market.

However, the April launch of the flagship Galaxy S5 might have been expected to give a rise to Q2 earnings.

Indeed Samsung said in May that it had already shipped 10 million units of the Galaxy S5.

But the company is facing competition from two directions: at the high-end from Apple and an assault at the lower end of its portfolio from Chinese vendors.

IDC believes Samsung’s smartphone shipments will be flat this quarter from the same period last year (Q213) and fall from the 88.5 million units in Q114.

Zain Saudi Arabia announced the signing of network expansion and upgrade agreements worth SAR4.5 billion (US$1.2 billion) with five leading global technology companies. The agreements aim to enhance Zain Saudi’s customer experience and to improve and expand Zain’s network capacity, coverage and speed.

The agreements were signed with Huawei, Nokia, NEC, Cisco, and Alcatel Lucent.

The operator aims to provide 4G LTE coverage to over 90 per cent of the population, providing existing and new customers with real high-speed mobile Internet connectivity.