The government of Lebanon has resumed operational management of state-owned cellcos Alfa and touch after operating contracts held by Orascom Telecom Media and Technology (OTMT) and Zain Group, respectively, expired earlier this year.
Zain and Orascom pushed out of Lebanon, at least temporarily
May 7th, 2020 — Miscellaneous
Telecom Game of Thrones
April 16th, 2020 — Miscellaneous
UK telco BT has awarded Ericsson a major contract covering deployment of the telco’s core network, as the UK operator moves to replace Huawei equipment in sensitive parts of its infrastructure as directed by the UK government.
MTN Group set to press on with stake reduction in Nigeria
April 1st, 2020 — Miscellaneous
South Africa’s MTN Group is set to push ahead with a plan to reduce its majority stake in its mobile operation in Nigeria, though uncertainty caused by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic may require the sale to be executed in smaller tranches.
Saudi extends MVNO license bid deadline to August 10
March 22nd, 2020 — Miscellaneous
Saudi Arabia’s Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) has announced the extension of the competition to license new mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs).
The bid process was launched on January 14, with a submission deadline May 10, which has now been extended to August 10, 2020. The Kingdom currently has two operational MVNOs – Virgin Mobile Saudi and Jawraa Lebara were licensed in 2014, operating on STC’s and Mobily’s networks respectively.
Zain sells and leases back passive infrastructure from IHS
February 19th, 2020 — Miscellaneous
Zain Kuwait has completed the sale and leaseback of the passive physical infrastructure of its 1,620 mobile tower portfolio for US$130 million (KD 40 million) to IHS Holding Limited (IHS). The transaction is the first sale and leaseback of telecom towers in the Middle East region by a licensed mobile operator.
