Africa & Middle East Telecom weekly news

October 11th to October 18th 2007

ALGERIA:
Fitel interested in LACOM’s acquisition 

BAHRAIN:
International calls to GCC made cheaper with Batelco pre-paid cards 

BOTSWANA:
BTC reduces Internet tariffs 

EGYPT:
Orascom Telecom buys back 6.93 million shares 

GHANA:
SingTel eyes expansion in Ghana 

IRAN:
Interest in privatisation warms-up 

ISRAEL:
Airtel selects Optibase to roll out IPTV services
Bezeq executives resign
Deutsche Telekom seeking expansion in Israel
Number portability starting 1 December ‘07 

KENYA:
Kenya selects Alcatel-Lucent for submarine cable deployment
Telkom accuses Safaricom of following anti-competitive practices 

NAMIBIA:
MWeb awarded VSAT licence
Telecom Namibia joins Cisco Powered Program 

NIGER:
Niger to issue two mobile operator licences 

NIGERIA:
3G services soon to be operational in Nigeria 

OMAN:
Omantel restructures board 

RWANDA:
Lap Green Networks wins government’s stake in Rwandatel 

SOUTH AFRICA:
CCC to hold hearings on Telkom’s cases
Vodacom commences fibre roll out in Johannesburg; collaborates with SpinVox
Vox Telecom acquires Storm for ZAR 360 million 

TUNISIA:
Comptel to provide provisioning and activation solution to Tunisiana 

TURKEY:
Shacolas in acquisition talks with MTN 

UGANDA:
Hits Telecom ready for launch in November
UCC takes initiative to provide more payphones in rural areas 

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:
Etisalat posts net profits of AED 5.53 Billion 

ZIMBABWE:
Econet secures funding for expansion programme