Telecoms

KSA’s sovereign fund to acquire 60% of Zain towers

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund proposed a non-binding offer to acquire a 60 percent stake in Kuwaiti-backed Zain’s KSA towers with various investors offering to buy another 20 percent, leaving the telco’s assets with an $807 million valuation, according to Zain KSA. The Public Investment Fund (PIF) offered a whopping $484 million for 60 percent […]

Vodafone Idea freefall trickles down to India’s telecom sector

Vodafone Idea’s (VI) fate is now controlled by the Indian government as the impending demise could immensely affect telecommunication service rivals, stakeholders, and the government, resulting in catastrophic outcomes on the country’s telecom sector. India’s telecommunication sector is wielding its final strategies to push itself from the underlying financial concerns, with Aditya Birla Group’s subsidiary, […]

STC’s subsidiary IPO might reach $960 million

Arabian Internet and Communications Services Co. revealed plans of auctioning 24 million of its shares, trusting this move will raise $960 million in its initial public offering (IPO). The company, which is a subsidiary of Saudi Telekom Company (STC), will look to auction off the shares with prices ranging between $36.26 and $40.26 per share. […]

UAE urged to replace Huawei’s 5G to secure U.S. F-35 jets deal

Under U.S. pretense that the Chinese telecom vendor Huawei could expose the Gulf to national security threats, United Arab Emirates (UAE) telco firms are urged by U.S. Lockheed Martin’s F-35 jets and drones’ sales deal to push Huawei from its 5G infrastructure contracts. The UAE has always held a fierce stance concerning its strong mobile […]

Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone’s zero tariff defies net neutrality

The Court of Justice in the European Union (CJEU) ruled on Thursday against German mobile operators Telekom Deutschland and Vodafone for violating domestic authorities’ bloc net neutrality and roaming regulations for their “Zero-rating” scheme, following national investigations. The EU ruling was based on the compatibility of services provided by the telcos, following limitations on bandwidth […]

Ethiopia’s plan to revive its Telecom Sector

The slow process of releasing Ethiopia’s telecom market has finally reached an end with the licensing of East Africa’s Safaricom-led Global Partnership for Ethiopia’s consortium, granting the company a seat at the table to empower the government’s telecom services. Ethiopia is one of the last two countries in Africa to augment its national telco services […]

KSA’s CITC unveils free local roaming service

Saudi Arabia’s Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) launched on Sunday “The Local Roaming” initiative with the Kingdom’s leading telco firms to maximize services within all regions, specifically in remote villages and desert areas. Zain’s statement revealed that the primal phase of The National Mobile Inter-Network Roaming initiative will be launched in the Asir area […]

Cameroon’s MTN set plans to launch 5G

MTN Cameroon appealed for a license to deploy and operate a trial for 5G networks from the country’s Telecommunications Regulatory Board, aiming to provide Cameroonians entry to more modernized uses of information technologies, Business in Cameroon reports. Local media reported that the subsidiary of the South African telecommunications company MTN Group, MTN Cameroon (MTNC), has […]

Parasat Cable TV taps Harmonic for broadband operations upgrade in Philippines

Philippines operator Parasat Cable TV has selected Harmonic’s CableOS Cloud-Native Core Platform to modernize its broadband operations. Harmonic is expected to enable Parasat Cable TV to expand broadband capacity and bring internet access to subscribers. The Cable TV is replacing a legacy and proprietary Huawei Remote MAC-PHY with Harmonic’s standards-based DAA that includes the CableOS […]

T-Mobile CEO says "truly sorry" for hack of 50M users' data

T-Mobile says it has notified nearly all of the millions of customers whose personal data was stolen and that it is “truly sorry” for the breach. CEO Mike Sievert said in a written statement Friday that the company spends lots of effort to try to stay ahead of criminal hackers “but we didn’t live up […]