The review of Zain Group’s African portfolio has taken place for the better part of this year, though still no definitive agreement has been reached. In much the same way that discussions between MTN Group and Bharti Airtel on a merger have yet to be ratified, do these movements in the African telecoms sector signal a cooling of investor sentiment towards African telecom stocks?

Bharti Airtel is India’s market leader with over 100 million subscribers. However intense competition is likely to change the dynamics of the market in the future

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The success of mobile broadband uptake in Saudi Arabia is a well documented occurrence, though few can place it in better context than Khalid Al Kaf, CEO of Mobily. Speaking to a distinguished audience at the inaugural Telecoms Leaders event held at MECOM 2009, Al Kaf articulated the presentation of the day, and shed light on why mobile broadband has and continues to be such a runaway success in the kingdom

Al Kaf believes the mobile industry is poised to be the natural and therefore main means of accessing broadband data in the future

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Nigeria is a country well known for its fluid commercial and social activities, years of which have stifled economic progress despite a significant population and abundant mineral wealth. The former state telecoms monopoly Nitel epitomises this failure in the face of overwhelming potential, though the company’s CEO is asking for someone to take a billion dollar bet to transform the telco into a functioning converged communications provider

While Nigeria’s four leading mobile operators count more than 60 million mobile subscribers amongst them, Mtel counts fewer than 100,000

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Three years ago Mikkel Vinter and his team at Friendi Mobile began their journey to introduce mobile virtual telecoms operations into the Middle East and North Africa. Faced with scepticism, indifference and in some cases even hostility, the company has gone on to commercialise one venture and is at advanced stages in negotiating others. It has also penned a number of industry-modifying partnership agreements and in so doing is forcing the industry to reconsider the value that MVNOs can bring to a competitive market

Mikkel Vinter says that the three years in which his company has been in existence has helped modify attitudes towards MVNOs in the region

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With the markets suddenly awash with people, is it easier or actually more difficult to hire true talent in recessionary times?  

The Chinese character for crisis is the same as the one for chaos – and includes two elements – one meaning ‘danger’ and the other ‘opportunity’. For the savvy organisation, the current economic downturn has created a unique opportunity to attract high level key personnel, the likes of which would not otherwise have been available in a more buoyant market.

Craig Coverman believes now is definitely a good time for organisations to ask themselves if they can really offer candidates compelling reasons to join them

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