Africa & Middle East Telecom weekly news

January 15th to January 22nd 2009

AFGHANISTAN:
Monitoring gear required by Afghan Telecom

AFRICA:
BKS appoints Vodacom Business to offer ICT solutions
MST awards MainOne project to Pioneer Consultants

BAHRAIN:
Batelco acquires 49 percent stake in S Tel
Batelco completes USD 57 million NGN initiative

CAMEROON:
Government to re-think Camtel tender
STCO to introduce telecom services in Cameroon

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO:
Quick Start for Microcom

EGYPT:
Vodafone Egypt prepares for higher SMS volumes

GHANA:
MTN launches new network code

IRAN:
Etisalat to offer 3G services to attract customers
Telkom eyes stake in TCI; stake sale to be delayed

ISRAEL:
BIDV awards IP telephony network contract to Tadiran Telecom

KENYA:
Safaricom to launch utility payment service
Zain to focus on rural expansion

MALI:
Maroc Telecom offers EUR 250 million for Sotelma stake

MOROCCO:
Mobile behind strong Maroc performance

NIGERIA:
Dangote launches transmission network on power lines
NCC to compile dropped call statistics

QATAR:
Qatar Telecom to float tender to increase stake in Indosat

SOUTH AFRICA:
Icasa licence fee hike not liked by carriers
MTN, Neotel to deploy fibre optic network
Tata acquires additional 30 percent stake in Neotel
Telkom tender award under probe
Tiso to acquire 25.1 percent stake in ACTowers
WebAfrica offloads 30 percent stake to establish own network

SUDAN:
Vivacell launches GSM network in southern Sudan

TUNISIA:
Government to announce auction results in June 2009

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:
RTIL, Etisalat discuss infrastructure sharing agreement

ZAMBIA:
Zamtel completes installation of fibre optic cable

ZIMBABWE:
Normal service to be resumed, says Econet