Telegeography

South Africa-based Vodacom Group has reported consolidated revenues of ZAR31.75 billion (USD3.99 billion) for the six months ended 30 September 2011, up 7.6% on the corresponding year-earlier period. Vodacom’s domestic unit, Vodacom South Africa, accounted for ZAR23.50 billion in sales (up 4.7% year-on-year), with the firm’s international operations accounting for ZAR4.39 billion (up 13.3% year-on-year). Group EBITDA for the period grew 7.6% to ZAR10.54 billion, whilst net profit climbed 2.8% to ZAR4.39 billion.

Ghana’s telecoms regulator the National Communications Authority (NCA) has imposed fines totaling GHC1.2 million (USD751,990) on five domestic mobile network operators – MTN, Vodafone, Airtel, Expresso and Tigo – for delivering poor services to end users.

According to Business Daily Africa, the Kenyan government is set to unveil a new set of shareholder rules that will ensure international firms are allowed to bid for a share of its planned ‘open access’ Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, overruling strong opposition from local operators. Last month, a total of 17 telecoms firms registered their interest in the open access 4G initiative.

Egyptian mobile network operator and broadband provider Etisalat Misr has reportedly delayed a listing on the country’s stock exchange until market conditions improve, Reuters reports citing local daily al-Mal.

Etisalat Misr’s CEO Saleh al-Abdouli was quoted by the Egyptian newspaper as saying: ‘The significant impact (of the uprising) on the capital markets reduces the feasibility of the share listing, especially in light of the reduced liquidity circulating in the market.’ Prior to the political turmoil and popular uprising in the country

Angola Communications Systems (ACS), a unit of Angolan telco MSTelcom, has chosen Alvarion’s BreezeMAX Extreme WiMAX solution to upgrade and expand its wireless broadband network, with a WiMAX 802.16e (mobile-ready) deployment, operating in the 4.9GHz frequency range.

The Republic of Congo’s Regulatory Agency Post and Electronic Communications (ARPCE) has announced the closure of a campaign aimed at registering mobile subscriber data. According to the watchdog, at the end of the process the percentage of subscribers that had handed over their details had risen to 92% as at 30 September 2011, up from the 82% that the regulator had registered at 25 June. ARPCE director general Yves Castanou noted that the country’s mobile network operators will now be given seven days to integrate all of the subscriber data into their respective databases.

Finnish telecommunications equipment vendor Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) has signed an agreement with Bharti Airtel to expand the operator’s 2G infrastructure and deploy 3G networks in seven African countries. Under the agreement, NSN will manage end-to-end network operations, including planning, designing and implementing the 2G and 3G networks for Airtel in the markets of Madagascar, Malawi, Congo Brazzaville, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

Uganda’s Communication Commission (UCC) has revoked the licences of six telecoms operators for failing to launch services within their allotted time limit. Uganda’s licensing regime is technology neutral, with concessions divided into two groups, public infrastructure provider (PIP) and public services provider (PSP).

According to Business Daily Africa a total of 17 telecoms firms have registered their interest in Kenya’s planned ‘open access’ Long Term Evolution (LTE) network. Of the companies involved, eight are known to be international equipment vendors, although they are all believed to have partnered with as-yet unnamed local companies in order to secure their participation in the project.

Global vendors include: Alcatel-Lucent (France), Huawei and ZTE (both China), Lollakfi (UK), Ericsson (Sweden), and IBM, Epesi Technologies and Cisco Networks (all United States).

Ethiopian incumbent telco Ethio Telecom (formerly Ethiopian Telecom Corporation) has revealed that it missed its revenue target of ETB9.8 billion (USD565 million) for the year ended 7 July 2011 by a shortfall of 11%, allAfrica.com reports. With France Telecom (FT) having taken over management of the state-owned telco in December 2010, the failure to hit the target could mean that the European telecoms giant may see its management fee reduced under the terms of its contract with the Ethiopian government.