Africa & Middle East Telecom weekly news

February 28th to Marsh 6th 2008

AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST:
Zain offers free content-sharing service 

AFRICA:
ECP to invest in Cellcom
Lap Green refutes sale speculation 

BAHRAIN:
Batelco reduces rental of single-user broadband package
TRA to award third mobile phone licence by year end 

EGYPT:
Orascom Telecom secures USD 2.5 billion debt facility 

ISRAEL:
Internet Gold registers strong annual and 4Q 2007 results 

KENYA:
Safaricom to soon launch HSDPA 

MALAWI:
MTL to deploy optical fibre network to curb vandalism 

NIGERIA:
Celtel Nigeria launches BlackBerry solution in Nigeria
Globacom commercially rolls out 3G services
MTN, Celtel compensate subscribers for poor service quality
Transcorp to continue managing NITEL/Mtel operations 

OMAN:
Oman to auction fixed-line and mobile licences
Omantel likely to hike interconnection fee in 2008 

SAUDI ARABIA:
Atheeb-Batelco to finance Saudi operations through IPO
Motorola to deploy 2G/3G mobile network for Saudi Zain 

SIERRA LEONE:
Celtel to extend Internet service throughout the nation 

SOUTH AFRICA:
iBurst slashes call tariffs
Neotel connects to SAT3/SAFE landing stations for international connectivity
Verizon Business for sale 

SYRIA: 
STE plans USD 1.5 billion investment over five years 

TURKEY:
Turkcell reports annual and 4Q 2007 results
Zain eyes Turkey’s 3G licence 

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:
Coming soon! New broadband service from Etisalat
Etisalat in talks for a JV with Iraqi carrier
Etisalat to distribute 35 percent dividend for 2H 2007