Africa & Middle East Telecom weekly news

November 22nd to November 29th 2007

AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST:
MTN to extend Backhaul technology in other countries 

AFRICA:
Celtel extends reach of One Network service
EASSy project gets initial funding
Safaricom, MSTelcom to use Intelsat’s satellite capacities 

ALGERIA:
Algérie Telecom selects Ericsson for network upgrade
Government lowers the bar for call centres 

BAHRAIN:
BT inks outsourcing deal with Nuetel 

BENIN:
Sarci protects its interests
GHANA:
Government selects France Telecom for GT’s acquisition 

ISRAEL:
012 Smile.Communications publishes prospectus for trading on TASE
Qtel plans to launch operations in Palestine 

KENYA:
Alcazar to contribute USD 58.5 million for Telkom Kenya Deal
Celtel signs SMS interconnection deal with Telkom 

KUWAIT:
Saudi Telecom wins bid to acquire stake in third Kuwaiti mobile carrier 

MALAWI:
Huawei to deploy optical fibre network for MTL 

NIGER:
Regulatory authority chooses France Telecom for Niger licence 

NIGERIA:
ALTDON to file suit against Celtel
Celtel Nigeria awards USD 70 million GSM/EDGE expansion contract to Motorola
Globacom commences deployment of fibre network
Mtel rewards customers with reduced tariffs, free calls and SMS 

QATAR:
Mansouri appointed executive director of business solutions unit at Qtel 

RWANDA:
MTN increases stake in MTN Rwanda 

SOUTH AFRICA:
AIRCOM to provide 3G consultation to MTN
Local investment firms acquire stake in NSN SA
Reuben September appointed as Telkom’s new CEO
Vodacom to increase shareholding in WBS to 25.1 percent 

SUDAN:
Sudatel interested to buy majority stake in Intercellular 

TUNISIA:
Wataniya wins Tunisiana dispute 

UGANDA:
Uganda Telecom’s UMTS/HSPA network deployed