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AME Info, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, telecommunications briefs
[January 17, 2013]

AME Info, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, telecommunications briefs


Jan 17, 2013 (AME Info - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- VODAFONE QATAR'S SUBSCRIBER BASE GROWS 26 percent TO 1M: Vodafone Qatar has posted a narrowing third-quarter loss, as its subscriber base rose by a quarter and revenue per user grew, Reuters has reported. Vodafone, which ended Qtel's domestic monopoly in 2009, made a third-quarter net loss of QR87.1m ($23.92m) in the three months to December 31, compared with a loss of QR122.1m in the year-earlier period. Quarterly revenue rose to QR395.6m from QR315.8m a year ago. Vodafone had one million mobile customers as of December 31, up 26 percent from a year earlier.



CHANNEL ISLANDS TO DECIDE ON BATELCO'S CWC ACQUISITION BY END-FEB: The telecom regulator of Britain's Channel Islands has announced it is to decide whether to approve Batelco's acquisition of Cable & Wireless Communications' (CWC) assets by the end of February, Reuters has reported. Batelco said on Tuesday its shareholders gave their approval for the acquisition deal. The Bahraini telecoms firm agreed in December to buy CWC's Monaco and Islands division in a deal worth up to $1bn, which CWC's shareholders also approved earlier this month.

LG AIMS TO SELL 75M HANDSETS THIS YEAR: LG Electronics is aiming to sell 75 million handsets this year, up sharply from this year's estimated 55 million, Korea Times has reported. Of the 75 million, the company said that around 45 million will be profitable smartphones and the remaining 30 million will be budget and feature phones. "We will release quite a number of new Optimus devices this year and LG also has some new smartphones in the works, that will run Microsoft's Windows Phone 8," a senior executive from one of LG's local partners told the daily.


APPLE DOWNGRADED ON SLOWER IPHONE SALES: US-based investment bank Pacific Crest Securities has downgraded Apple Inc. citing concerns the company can keep riding the success of the iPhone to greater profits, Bloomberg has reported. Analyst Andy Hargreaves downgraded the company from "Outperform" to "Sector Perform," as demand for new iPhone models is going to falter "because consumers aren't going to clamour for new hardware features anymore." That means they'll hang on to older phones longer, and when they buy, they'll buy cheaper models, he wrote in a note to investors.

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