Vodafone remains the sole bidder for the UK-based Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWW) after the only other company that had expressed an interest announced that it was pulling out.

India’s Tata Communications had joined the battle for CWW, having shown interest in the telco’s international fibre network. Vodafone was also keen on the fibre assets, although it is understood that CWW’s tax credits would be of equal consideration.

In a short statement, Tata Communications said that it "confirms that it has been unable to reach agreement with CWW on an offer price and therefore confirms that it does not intend to make an offer."

Millicom International reported that its Q112 revenues rose by 8.4 per cent to US$1.68 billion.

However, net profit for the three months fell by 13.1 per cent to US$159 million.

"The EBITDA margin in Q1 was diluted to 44.2%, as a result of a change in our revenue mix, an acceleration of investments in new categories and pricing pressure in some markets. We are currently implementing various pricing initiatives in the markets experiencing negative growth to improve our affordability perception,” commented Mikael Grahne, president and CEO of Millicom.

In Latin America, where the company generates 80 per cent of its revenues, the top line grew by 9.2 per cent in local currency in the first quarter, in line with the average growth reported over the past twelve months. Mobile data now accounts for close to 12 per cent of revenues in Latin America.

In Africa, top line growth in local currency slowed to 5.4 per cent in Q1 with Ghana, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo showing negative growth while Tanzania and Rwanda continued to report strong performance, supported by the success of mobile financial services. Margins in Africa were negatively impacted by the level of elasticity experienced so far following price reductions that were introduced last year.

In the first quarter of 2012, 26 per cent of customers had an ARPU in excess of $10, while only 10.7 per cent of total customer base were mobile data users.

Grahne added that he believes that cross-selling and up-selling services to their existing customers will enable the company to continue growing revenues and EBITDA, while generating attractive returns.

UAE telco Du has launched a new Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) service platform based on iDirect evolution technology. The addition of this new platform to the company’s satellite data services portfolio brings more value to its bouquet of business offerings.

Under its VSAT offerings, Du provides integrated end-to-end solutions for corporate and enterprise customers, delivered over a redundant backbone infrastructure. Du VSAT offerings include: IP VSAT; managed data network services over satellite; and satellite integration solutions. Additionally, Du will offer a complete line of high quality and high performance Internet, intranet and Extranet solutions on VSAT.

“VSAT represents a significant addition to our corporate and enterprise offerings. It provides a solid new base from which remote businesses – such as those in the oil and gas industry – are able to ensure reliable, consistent communications at all times. It will bring further convenience and flexibility to such industries,” said Farid Faraidooni, chief commercial officer of Du.

Ericsson today confirmed the availability of managed services for IT solutions, explaining that as telecommunication operators’ IT environments play a central role in ensuring a quality subscriber experience, and significant capital investments are required for these environments to function seamlessly, Ericsson has launched its IT managed services offering. The new offering enables operators to improve processes such as customer relationship management, services management and billing, which all translate into an enhanced subscriber experience. IT managed services will also create shareholder value by lowering the operating expenditure and the capital expenditure, which improves the return on capital investment.

“We have pioneered with IT managed services in the past, but this milestone represents our statement that we have all the elements in place to offer a full and comprehensive solution,” said Staffan Akesson, VP and head of managed services, Ericsson, Region Middle East.

In February 2011, Ericsson announced that UAE telco Du had signed a five-year IT management contract with it. As part of the managed services agreement, Ericsson agreed to augment Du’s IT applications and deliver development and maintenance for the UAE telco’s IT applications.

IHS, a telecommunications infrastructure provider, with headquarters in Nigeria and operations across Africa, has invested US$8 million to upgrade its network operations centre (NOC) in Lagos. The upgrade allows IHS to offer state-of-the-art infrastructure management and professional services and site monitoring systems to mobile network operators in Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and other neighbouring countries in West Africa.

“With the eventual evolution of 4G in Africa and the surge in mobile traffic, operators will be looking to differentiate their services by offering the best customer experience. Tower management will play an important behind the scenes role in this and our investment in NOC underscores that IHS is well positioned for the imminent arrival of 4G,” Issam Darwish, CEO, IHS said.

The NOC will provide a range of comprehensive professional tower management services to network operators while leveraging cost and value synergies. These services include a holistic approach to tower utilisation with the aim of turning every base station and tower into its own profit and loss centre; green power management; preventative and corrective maintenance of all devices and procedures on site; minimising site down time closer to zero; and a new approach to customer service management. The NOC will enable IHS to operate its proprietary and customer infrastructure more efficiently, enhancing its regional service delivery and competitiveness.