Safaricom has confirmed that Huawei will be a supplier in the public security tender that the government awarded to the mobile network operator.

The government recently suspended the contract following increased pressure over how the tender was awarded and some concerns about a national security project being managed by a private company.

The confirmation by Safaricom’s CEO, Bob Collymore that Huawei is involved has only deepened the controversy, as Huawei lost the tender when it was originally offered due to apparently not meeting the required specifications.

"It is our understanding that the government chose to invite Safaricom to tender for the project due to the urgency of the security situation at hand and that is probably the most practical solution for the expeditious implementation of the system," Collymore told a parliamentary committee investigating the affair.

He also clarified that the costs had been misreported and that the bulk of the costs were for the initial phase, and would not need to be repeated again later.

Ooredoo Kuwait today announced the appointment of Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Thani as CEO of the company.

He will succeed Abdulaziz Ibrahim Fakhroo, who has tendered his resignation from the position upon reaching the end of his term. Fakhroo will move to a new position within the Group and will serve as a member of the board of directors of Ooredoo Kuwait.

Sheikh Mohammed holds a Master’s Degree in Finance and Accounting from the University of Cardiff, Wales. He previously worked in Ooredoo’s finance department as director of Financial Operations, and was subsequently.

The government of Togo has authorised plans to award a third mobile operator licence for the country. It is currently carrying out a feasibility study into how to carry out the process.

The ministry is yet to publish a detailed schedule, though the process should lead to a tender.

Currently the country has the two mobile networks – the state owned Togo Cellulaire, and Moov which is majority owned by Etisalat.

Orange was granted an operating licence in 2008, but it is not clear what happened to that.

Togo is one of the smallest countries in West Africa, and its population of 6.5 million.

Intigral, the digital media, content and services company, has announced the appointment of Henri Holm as chief financial officer. Holm will work closely with the company’s leadership to ensure Intigral realises its strong growth potential over the coming years.

Holm has 20 years of international management experience in start-ups, mobile Internet, consumer electronics, manufacturing, distribution, retail and brand management. His most recent position was as senior vice president, Asia operations for Rovio based in Hong Kong.

BlackBerry has posted a deep slump in its first quarter revenues, but also announced an unexpected profit, which sent its share price soaring.

The company’s shares jumped by 12 per cent in early trading after it announced a net profit of US$23 million for fiscal Q1 to the end of May.

However, revenues plunged by 69 per cent to US$966 million. The revenue breakdown for the quarter was approximately 39 per cent for hardware, 54 per cent for services and seven per cent for software and other revenue.

The company said that cost cutting led to higher margins and the turnaround in profitability.

Smartphone sales, however, continue to slide. During Q1, around 2.6 million BlackBerry smartphones were sold through to end customers, compared with 3.4 million the previous quarter.

The company ended the period with cash and investments of US$3.1 billion.