KDDI is reportedly close to signing a deal that would see it take over the management of the state owned telecom network in Myanmar.

Myanmar recently granted mobile licences to Ooredoo and Telenor, bringing competition to the underserved market, where the state-owned telco was largely a tool of the military and politicians.

Citing government officials, local media reported that KDDI is expected to sign a deal by the end of the month to take over the management of Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT).

Other bidders to run MPT included Orange and SingTel, although they were dropped from the bidding.

MTN South Sudan has switched on the first of 161 base stations that it has been deploying across the newly independent country.

The switch-on is part of a US$76 million network upgrade project that MTN is undertaking after it split the network away from the main service in the rest of Sudan.

A further 160 base stations will be deployed this year, and that is in addition to upgrades and the existing 147 towers, which are having 3G coverage added to them.

MTN is working with ZTE to modernise its existing network to make the cellco the largest in South Sudan by the end of the year.

The company cited the difficulties in deploying towers in rural areas with a lack of necessary infrastructure or power supplies. They are also required to pay for equipment in US dollars, which is proving difficult to raise in the local currency.

MTN South Sudan was only recently formally granted an operator licence.

Millicom has been identified as one potential acquisition target for MTN Group given the South Africa cellco has confirmed it is eyeing opportunities to expand in Asia having ruled out any more attempts to merge with an Indian partner.

MTN faced pressure from South African politicians to ensure that the company remains a majority South African owned company, which has made it difficult for the firm to expand overseas through share based mergers. It needs to pay cash, or seek deals where share based transactions do not substantively dilute the South African shareholders’ stake in the firm.

Currently, the South African government owns a 14 per cent stake in MTN through a state pension fund, and Millicom, which has operations in Latin America and across Africa is viewed as a good potential fit. Such a deal would cost around US$10 billion, which in turn would not overly dilute MTN’s US$40 billion market capitalisation.

MTN already has a US$4 billion cash pile.

Cell C announced that its subscriber base grew by 35 per cent year-on-year in 2013, which translated to a total revenue increase of 14 per cent during the period.

By the end of 2013, Cell C boasted a customer base of 13.6 million, a net growth of 3.5 million for the year. The growth was primarily driven by the prepaid market, which was up by 40 per cent. Prepaid customer spend also increased by 31 per cent year-on-year.

Hybrid, post-paid and broadband subscribers grew by 14 per cent, nine per cent and 55 per cent respectively.

Moving into 2014, the company continues to see robust customer growth, with most months seeing Cell C adding over 1 million gross connections. During March 2014 the company added 1.6million gross connections, with 1 million of those being net connections. The total customer base of Cell C as at the end of April 2014 was 16.6 million.

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Ooredoo today announced the establishment of Ooredoo Global Services (OGS), which will serve as the group’s wholesale arm.

OGS offers a single point of contact for wholesale carriers to access Ooredoo’s 18 operating companies representing one of the largest Internet peering networks in the Middle East that is interconnected with more than 100 operators, including many of the largest in the world.

The company has appointed Yousuf Abdulla Al Kubaisi to serve as the entity’s CEO. He previously served as Ooredoo Qatar’s chief wholesale and international officer since 2012. For more than 29 years, Al Kubaisi has held managerial roles across the company’s international infrastructure, business services, and regulatory units.