Africa & Middle East Telecom weekly news

January 3rd to January 10th 2008

AFGHANISTAN:
Etisalat reduces call and SMS tariffs 

BAHRAIN:
Batelco introduces new mobile broadband service
TRA to consider third player entry into Bahrain telecom market 

EGYPT:
Arab Bank provides USD 845 million loan to Etisalat
Orange Group establishes new lab in Cairo
Orascom completes sale of stake in HTIL 

GHANA:
PT out of race for stake in Ghana Telecom 

IRAN:
Telecom sector invites foreign investors 

IRAQ:
Two Iraqi carriers re-branded as Zain 

ISRAEL:
Ericsson to offer end-to-end mobile TV and video solution in collaboration with Cellcom Israel 

KENYA:
Safaricom set to enhance M-Pesa service 

KUWAIT:
Wataniya reduces tariffs following MOC directive 

NIGERIA:
NCC defends its services
Transcorp warned by NCC for poor GSM service 

QATAR:
Vodafone consortium to launch services in ’08 

SAUDI ARABIA:
Motorola wins network expansion contract from Mobily
Saudi Telecom obtains USD 450 million loan from Al Rajhi Bank
Saudi Zain to increase stake to be sold in IPO
Zain inks USD 935 million contract with Nokia Siemens Network 

SOUTH AFRICA:
Cell C upgrades to Informatica PowerCenter 64-bit platform
ICASA to promote competition in South Africa Telecom Market
Telkom introduces new ADSL top-up service 

SUDAN:
Etisalat increases stake in Sudan's Canar Telecom 

TURKEY:
Turkcell considers stake in Syriatel Mobile Telecom 

UGANDA:
Celtel Uganda completes USD 80 million network upgrade
MTN Uganda completes USD 60 million upgrade plan
Uganda to witness reduction in airtime costs