Africa & Middle East Telecom weekly news

December 6th to December 13th 2007

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC:
France Telecom launches Orange services in Central African Republic 

EGYPT:
Orascom Telecom to sell entire stake in HTIL
Sawiris denies Orascom sale speculations 

GHANA:
Cellphone companies oppose government’s plan to tax airtime
Millicom receives USD 140 million debt financing 

KENYA:
CCK to grant mobile licence to Telkom soon 

LEBANON:
MTC reveals plans to further extend the international roaming service 

MALAWI:
Access Communications to launch fixed phone services in 2008
ESCOM plans to lease network to improve telecommunications
MTL cuts 389 jobs 

MOZAMBIQUE:
mCel to extend coverage to 90 percent of the population by 2009 

NAMIBIA:
Orion Telecom acquires Telkom Ericsson 

NIGERIA:
Globacom to launch 3G Plus service
MTN considering stake sale to Nigerians 

OMAN:
Nawras launches 3G services 

QATAR:
Qtel considers expansion options in MENA and Asia
Qtel post-paid subscribers to benefit from yearly subscription
Vodafone wins bid for Qatar’s second mobile phone licence 

SIERRA LEONE:
Africell introduces E-Voucher offering 

SOUTH AFRICA:
Cell C adds Google search portal to services
Telkom introduces another VPN service offering for corporate customers 

SYRIA:
Turkcell vying for stake in Syriatel 

TURKEY:
Turkcell loses number portability lawsuit 

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:
Etisalat granted new mobile dialling code
Etisalat to acquire 16 percent stake Indonesia’s Excelcomindo 

ZAMBIA:
Celtel Zambia to list 20 percent shares 

ZAMBIA:
NetOne follows Econet in price increase