NSN can not expect any more money from its parent companies

The chief executive of Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), the world’s second-largest maker of mobile phone network equipment, has warned employees NSN can not expect any more money from its parent companies, a German magazine reported yesterday.

Parents Nokia and Siemens have provided capital “for the last time” and expect this investment will provide results, Spiegel reported, citing a copy of a letter sent from Rajeev Suri to NSN’s 9,000 employees in Germany.

© City A.M.

Telecom Job Vacancy: UMTS Design/Planning RF Engineer, Location: USA

Start date: ASAP
End date: 6 months (extendable up to 1 year)
Job description: Must have Ericsson UMTS Design/Planning Experience and prior working knowledge of the Atoll planning tool

 Please email your CV to pjones@firstpointgroup.com

Network Sharing Deal between Telefonica and China Unicom

Spanish telecom operator Telefonica has reportedly entered into a strategic partnership with China Unicom, wherein both operators will use each other’s networks to expand their coverage. According to reports, the deal will provide Telefonica access to China Unicom’s network in the regions of Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Australia, France and Sweden.

In return, China Unicom can reportedly increase its presence through Telefonica’s network in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Peru, Venezuela, Mexico, USA, Puerto Rico, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria Denmark, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Morocco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Romania, Sweden and Switzerland.

Reports suggest that Telefonica believes this agreement will help both operators expand their capabilities to provide telecom services to various customers in different geographic areas. 

© Wireless Federation

Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) to slash jobs of around 17,000 globally

Nokia Siemens Networks, the unprofitable telephone-equipment venture of Nokia Oyj and Siemens AG, will eliminate 17,000 jobs worldwide in its biggest cull to narrow the gap with market leader Ericsson AB.

The reduction, equivalent to about 23 percent of its workforce, will be completed by the end of 2013, when Nokia Siemens aims to cut 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) in annual operating expenses and production costs. Nokia Siemens will focus on mobile broadband and services, and aims to divest or “manage for value” units that aren't central to its plans, Espoo, Finland-based Nokia said today.

Nokia Siemens received a cash injection of 1 billion euros from its parent companies in September as Jesper Ovesen, the former chief financial officer of TDC A/S, was named to oversee the restructuring as executive chairman. The venture, set up in April 2007 to compete against Ericsson and Chinese rivals such as Huawei Technologies Co., has fallen behind and has been unprofitable in all but one quarter.

“If you look at the last two to three years, it's become clear that Ericsson and Huawei are quite a long way ahead of the competition,” said Mark Newman, chief research officer at London-based Informa Telecoms & Media. “NSN has struggled to remain competitive. It's gone through periods of being extremely aggressive in terms of pitching for new business because it realized it needed to win new contracts.”

Lost Revenue

Siemens fell 1.7 percent to 68 euros in Frankfurt trading. Nokia fell 2.3 percent to 4.09 euros in Helsinki.

“I think this will be enough,” Sami Sarkamies, a Helsinki-based analyst with Nordea Bank, said in an interview. “It was probably more than people expected. The big question is how much will be divestments versus cost savings, which affects how much revenue they are going to lose. With these efforts they should be able to get above 5 percent margins for earnings before interest and taxes by late 2012 or 2013.”

Siemens and Nokia abandoned talks with private-equity companies in July after the buyout firms failed to come up with a compelling offer. The companies said in September that Nokia Siemens would “become a more independent entity.”

Motorola Units

Nokia Siemens had a 13.2 percent market share in 2010, tied with Alcatel-Lucent for third place in the mobile infrastructure market, according to researcher Gartner Inc. Ericsson was first with 34.1 percent and Huawei second at 15.6 percent. The company is “a very strong number two” in managed services, Frankfurt- based Gartner analyst Bettina Tratz-Ryan said in an interview.

“They have a ‘me-too' strategy and they need to provide more in order to become successful,” Tratz-Ryan said.

Nokia Siemens employed almost 75,000 people as of Sept. 30. The company generated sales of about $254,000 per employee last year, 19 percent less than larger rival Ericsson, based on numbers from the companies' financial reports. The figure for both manufacturers is sinking as prices for equipment such as base stations and packet-switching networks decline.

Nokia Siemens said it plans to simplify its organization, consolidate sites and functions, and strip out more jobs from the integration of Motorola Solutions Inc. units acquired this year.

‘Takeover Candidate'

The company announced in August that it planned to cut as many as 1,500 positions from the Motorola units, which added workers in Arlington Heights, Illinois. The company also has large units in Espoo, Finland, and Munich, Germany. It makes equipment at locations including Shanghai, Beijing and Suzhou in China; Bruchsal, Germany; Chennai, India; and Oulu, Finland, according to a Nokia filing.

“They are turning themselves into a takeover candidate,” Georg Nassauer, head of the German works council at Nokia Siemens, said by telephone. “NSN needs new management. They have proved they aren't up to the job.”

Nokia Siemens hasn't decided how many jobs will be cut per country, spokeswoman Jozefa Terloo said from Munich. Negotiations with worker representatives will start immediately, she said. In Germany, the venture has about 10,000 employees.

“We need to take the necessary steps to maintain long-term competitiveness and improve profitability in a challenging telecommunications market,” Chief Executive Officer Rajeev Suri said in a statement.

Assets that are peripheral to the new strategy include “a lot of wireline areas” as well as a unit that sells IPTV services to carriers, Suri said in an interview, adding that he doesn't anticipate announcements on a possible share sale or change of ownership in the near future.

“We got a billion euros of equity committed by parents in September to support new strategy,” Suri said. “We have a new executive chairman that sort of paves the way for independence. Apart from that, nothing else is on the horizon.”

© Business Week

After Ericsson and NSN, Huawei also launched GNOC in India

Telecom network solutions major Huawei on Friday launched the global network operations centre (GNOC), its first outside China, here.

Huawei Telecommunications India Co. Pvt. Ltd. Vice President Rajiv Weimin Yao said the company planned to establish similar centres in Romania and Mexico. The Bangalore centre, which has the capability to operate multiple networks of telecom operators, including across countries in the region, “will be open, transparent and fully compliant with Indian regulators,'' Mr. Yao said.

Mr. Yao said the company was investing about $200 million for a ‘brand new' R&D facility in Bangalore, which would become operational in three years. The number of employees working in R&D operations would increase from the current 2,200 to 4,000-5,000 in three years. “The significance of India lies in the fact that software has become increasingly important in the telecom business. Huawei is a relatively young company, but is now the second biggest telecom equipment solutions provider in the world,” he said. The company already employed about 6,000 persons in the country, 90 per cent of whom were locals. The company's Indian R&D operations were one of the biggest, he said. “The initiatives we have taken in the last few years are aimed at making India a global resource hub,” he added.

Leroy G. Blimeggar Jr., Senior Vice-President, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., said that the company sees ‘great potential' in the managed services business. “Telecom operators, who have bought equipment from multiple vendors, want seamless operations. The growing complexity of the networks has made the managed services business very important,” he observed. The Bangalore centre will enable economies of scale for telecom operators seeking cost reduction in a competitive environment.

Sarvdeep Garg, Executive Director and Head (Delivery and Services), said Huawei established a regional network operations centre in Gurgaon, catering to the needs of Indian operators. “The GNOC in Bangalore will function as a disaster recovery centre if services at the Gurgaon facility are disrupted,” he said. The company was servicing the needs of more than 55,000 base stations across the country. Huawei is partnering Bharti Telecom on a pilot project for a 4G in Karnataka. The project would commence in a few months, he said.

© The Hindu

Chinese & Indian Telecom Operators are building 4G (LTE) due to cost-optimization strategy

China and India, the world's biggest mobile phone markets, are building fourth-generation (4G) networks based on the long-term evolution (LTE) technology although it will be years before it takes off as both countries are still ramping up 3G services.
Since Asia's first commercial LTE network went live in Hong Kong in November last year, there are only a handful of operators in other Asian countries such as Japan and Singapore that have launched commercial 4G networks.
Many more in the region -- including China Mobile Ltd, India's Reliance Industries Ltd and Bharti Airtel Ltd -- are building high-speed networks to cash in on growing demand for mobile data that promises to lift margins as voice services become increasingly commoditised.
"It is a cost-optimisation strategy that is quite clearly on a number of operators' radars, given this is a tough market where margins continue to remain under pressure," Nicole McCormick, a senior analyst at research firm Ovum, said on the sidelines of a mobile conference in Hong Kong.
LTE was a main focus at the conference, with China Mobile, the world's largest operator by subscribers, and China's No.2 telecommunications equipment maker ZTE Corp were presenting what they have to offer.
China and India were late in rolling out 3G networks, but are trying to catch up with Western peers in 4G rollouts.
Operators in both markets are planning networks based on the time division duplex (TDD) variant of LTE, which differs from frequency division duplex (FDD) technology used in many networks in the United States and Europe.
TD-LTE is gaining momentum, with the market for handsets, equipment and semiconductors totalling $98 billion from 2012 to 2016, said Goldman Sachs analyst Donald Lu.
Ovum projected that LTE would be used by 19 percent of mobile broadband users in Asia Pacific by 2016.
LOSING OUT ON IPHONE
For China Mobile, the adoption of 4G technology is key as it struggles with a 3G network based on a homegrown standard that is incompatible with popular devices such as Apple Inc's popular iPhone.
Apple had promised to make an TD-LTE-compatible iPhone when its next-generation model came out, China Mobile said last month.
China Mobile had conducted a first-phase trial of TD-LTE with 850 base stations in six cities, and expected to complete the next phase of tests by June next year, executives said.
"With the growing popularity of mobile Internet and smart devices, data consumption is increasing at an explosive speed ... under such a situation, the need to speed up the commercialisation of LTE is more compelling," said China Mobile Executive Vice-President Li Zhengmao.
In India, all eyes are on Reliance Industries, the country's most valuable company.

Reliance made a dramatic return to the telecoms sector by buying Infotel Broadband, the sole winner of bandwidth in all of India's 22 zones in a state auction last year, and is expected to launch services on the TD-LTE platform next year.
Indian media reports have said Reliance will also launch cheaper LTE-compatible tablets.
"We are hopeful that before the end of this (fiscal) year, we'll have some commercial activity," said Bharti Airtel Chief Executive for India and South Asia Sanjay Kapoor of the planned LTE launch.
Hong Kong's CSL Ltd, a unit of Australia's Telstra Corp, was the first operator in Asia to launch a commercial 4G network in November last year, followed by Japan's NTT DoCoMo Inc last December.
In South Korea, top mobile carrier SK Telecom Co Ltd and smaller rival LG Uplus Corp launched commercial LTE services in some parts of the country in July. SK Telecom said on Tuesday that it planned to deploy LTE networks nationwide by April next year, eight months ahead of schedule, hoping to boost sales with faster services.
3G USERS STILL FEW
China launched 3G services in 2009, while Indian mobile operators rolled out 3G just this year. Pick up has been slower than expected so far, and planned 4G buildouts may put further pressure on carriers. In China, only 10 percent of 939.5 subscribers use 3G, while in India, the level is less than 2 percent of 866 million subscribers.
"The markets are still very much in 3G ramp-up mode. 4G is one big step away," said an analyst in Hong Kong, who declined to be named.
Another hurdle for the growth of LTE is a lack of compatible smartphones, but industry executives are optimistic of wider availability of such devices.
"Major smartphone makers like HTC Corp and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, maybe 50 percent of their advanced smartphones next year will be LTE compatible," said Goldman analyst Donald Lu at the conference.




(C) Reuters India

Joint Venture between Huawei and Symantec will be fully owned by Huawei in future

A joint venture founded by the Huawei Technologies Corporation and Symantec Corporation will be wholly owned by the Huawei in the future. 
In a statement published on Nov. 15, Huawei declared that the two corporations have reached an agreement in which Huawei will buy the 49 percent of shares held by the Symantec Corporation at a price of about 530 million U.S. dollars or 3.4 billion yuan. 
Huawei Symantec Technologies Corporation is a high-tech company jointly founded by Huawei and the anti-virus software developer Symantec in Hong Kong in 2008. Its main products are anti-virus software and storage devices. 
However, the joint venture has been suffering losses since its founding. Analysts believe that it is actually not a bad choice for the Symantec to safely withdraw from the joint venture with a big sum of money. 
The transaction will be submitted to authorities for approval and be completed in the first quarter of 2012. Before the transaction is completed, Huawei and the Symantec will still comply with the current joint venture agreement. 
The acting board chairman of the Huawei Guo Ping said in the statement that integrating the innovative security and storage technologies of Symantec and the products of the Huawei will help the Huawei maintain its lead in the emerging technology of cloud computing. He also said that Huawei will increase investment in Huawei Symantec.

(C) People's Daily

Saudi Telecom selected Nokia Siemens Networks as one of its preferred global vendors

 

The Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) said it had selected Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) as one of its preferred global vendors for network infrastructure.
The agreement allows NSN to offer its portfolio of network infrastructure equipment though a Global Price Book, and provide volume discounts based on total spend across STC, Maxis and Oger Groups at OpCos in Bahrain, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey.
The STC group, along with the Maxis and Oger Groups, has reached a leading position in the global mobile and fixed telecommunication markets.
In 2010, the groups jointly launched a series of global technology initiatives focused on capturing synergies across their nine operating companies with a focus on truly global scope of initiatives in all participating geographies and on working with the best-in-class global and regional supplier to become preferred partners to the group.
One of the initiatives was focused on technology infrastructure synergies, with an objective developing a global price book and formalizing volume discounts based on overall group scale.
STC is the leading provider of telecommunications services in the Kingdom that provides mobile, landline, Internet and other data services, to residential and business customers.
Also STC has become a global giant through successful expansion in a record years’ time to become among the largest operators in the Middles East, Africa as in Southeast Asia.
This expansion from local to international has been led by STC International through distinguished leadership and strategic partnerships.
STC International can now be a catalyst for opening up the emerging markets to investments and innovation in telecom and has the power to make a deep change on a multinational scale and subscribes fully to creating value rather than basic competition in every market where it operates.

(C) Arab News

ZTE want business with US carriers, won't sell network equipment to Iran

Chinese telecommunications equipment vendor ZTE Corp. still wants to sell network equipment to the big four U.S. carriers in spite of political hurdles, an executive said Wednesday.

"Although we have been blocked by the U.S. government, we just can't give up breaking into the U.S. market because its size is huge and per-capita spending is high," Richard Ye, senior director of wireless-product operations, told Dow Jones Newswires on the sidelines of Asia Mobile Congress.

ZTE is a major global supplier of telecom hardware and aims to expand in developed markets. But it faces political resistance in the U.S. It has been accused of being a security threat. Some U.S. lawmakers want ZTE and its hometown rival Huawei Technologies Co. restricted.

ZTE Chairman Hou Weigui said in October it won't seek U.S. deals for core network equipment because of these political obstacles. However, Ye said Wednesday ZTE can't just "walk away from this important market."

ZTE continues to talk in the U.S. with Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA, AT&T Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp., and Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodaphone Group PLC, he added. ZTE does offer feature phones and wireless data cards to these big four carriers but can't supply network equipment.

ZTE won't sell network equipment to countries like Iran so as not to annoy the U.S., Ye added.

That is in contrast to its larger Chinese rival Huawei Technologies Co. When Western companies pulled back from Iran after its bloody crackdown on citizens two years ago, Huawei filled the vacuum and recently agreed to install equipment allowing police to track people using their cellphones, according to interviews with telecom employees both in Iran and elsewhere and corporate bidding documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal last month.

Beyond the U.S., ZTE supplies carriers in Europe and Asia and Ye expects revenue from equipment to continue growing at a double-digit rate next year as global mobile operators adopt high-speed, next-generation technology to ease network bottlenecks amid a surge in mobile network traffic.

"With the rapid adoption of smartphones and other mobile Internet devices, network upgrades are becoming more crucial for operators," Ye said.

(C) Total Telecom

NSN-Moto & Huawei topped in LTE Contracts

 

Maravedis,a global provider of market intelligence and advisory services, found that 35 operators had commercially launched FDD (frequency division duplexing) at the end of the third quarter and the firm anticipates that the number of LTE subscribers will reach 448 million by 2016.


 


During the third quarter, Nokia Siemens Networks-Motorola and Huawei fetched most of the LTE infrastructure contracts, with 29 percent and 26 percent share, respectively, according to Maravedis. In April, Nokia Siemens Networks completed its $975 million acquisition of certain wireless network infrastructure assets belonging to Motorola Solutions. Maravedis said that Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia Siemens are among the leading providers of LTE infrastructure for the top 50 LTE operators.


Mobile operators also are experimenting with another form of Long Term Evolution technology known as TD (time division)-LTE, and the Asia Pacific region is leading the world with 12 operator trials. Europe has had nine of them.


"Although we have seen some commercial TD-LTE deployments happening in 2011 outside Asia, these deployments will not drive the economies of scale expected from the deployments that will occur in China and India next year," said Basharat Ashai, co-author of Maravedis' 4GCounts Quarterly Report, "and volume production of TD-LTE handsets will not be realized until the end of 2012."


Maravedis expects that DT-LTE smartphones will be poised for commercial launch in early 2013. The market intelligence firm forecasts that smartphones will account for 47 percent of the 4G device market by 2016, followed by USB dongles (20 percent) and tablets (16 percent).



(C) Vision2mobile

Telecom Job Vacancy for Telecom Implementation (TI) Supervisor_ Eastern Europe

Currently looking Telecom Implementation (TI) Supervisor in Eastern Europe.


It's a 3 months extendable contract.


Candidates with good experience in Nokia equipments and LTE experience is Must.
Candidate need to have good experience in 3G and LTE Sites commissioning & Integration.


If you are interested then please send your updated resume to anup.gupta@netc-intl.com

Telecom Job Vacancy for O&M Consultant || Zimbabwe

Looking for O&M Consultant - ( To Drive all operational & technical functoins) in Zimbabwe -
Any National ( Arabs Pref).
Top Perks + Allowances
Duration: 6-12 month contract.


Please send CVs to m.durrani@techresourcers.com

Telecom Job Vacancy for Mobile Broadband (MBB) Solution Manager || Germany

Mobile Broadband (MBB) Solution Manager required for position in Germany/Sweden.
Must have experience in mobile solutions, VoIP, pre paid and post paid services.


Please send CV to lauren.collins@tanint.com for more info.

Telecom Job Vacancy for 3G RF Optimization Experts || Germany

3G RF Optimization Experts required for two year contract in Germany.
Must have 5-8 years experience
Must hold an EU passport (due to visa restrictions).


Please send CV to lauren.collins@tanint.com

Telecom Job Vacancies for RNC / UTRAN Enginners (Performance / planning) || UK

FPG Urgently looking for RNC / UTRAN Enginners (Performance / planning) UK/EU Candidates ONLY due to the nature of the urgent requirement.


Excellent opportunity in the South of England.


Please forward CV's to aalmajali@firstpointgroup.com to discuss the opportunity further.

Telecom Job Vacancies for RAN Customer Project Managers || Japan

RAN Customer Project Managers with SW Upgrade experience needed for a specialist project based in Japan.


Candidates please apply to zoe.wilson@tanint.com

Telecom Job Vacancy for Managed Services Project Assistant/Project Coordinator in Europe

Project Assistant/Project Coordinator with extensive MS Project - 


Telco environment experience for a lucrative contract opportunity Europe
2 year project BSS Systems. 


Pl send CV's to robins@markloucas.co.uk

Vodafone Australia seeks compo for network problems from Nokia Siemens Networks

 
VODAFONE is locked in a court battle for compensation from the company managing its network when customers complained en masse about drop-outs, poor reception and capacity problems.
Vodafone Hutchison Australian expects to make a loss this financial year after revenues declined and it had to fast-track a $1 billion infrastructure upgrade and cut prices to retain and attract customers.
Nokia Siemens Networks Australia lodged an application with the Federal Court of NSW on November 4 asking for court intervention after Vodafone withdrew $8 million from a performance bond on November 3. It demanded Nokia Siemens deposit another $8 million in the bond, according to court documents.
The companies were mediating whether Nokia Siemens would pay any money when Vodafone withdrew the $8 million, Nokia Siemens alleges.
Justice David Yates ordered Nokia Siemens not be required to replenish the performance bond and Vodafone be required to keep at least $10 million in its bank account until the matter is heard on December 7.
Vodafone and Nokia Siemens signed a seven-year network managed services agreement on April 30, 2010, about eight months before angry customers set up the ''vodafail'' website.
Nokia Siemens has also alleged Vodafone engaged in misleading, deceptive and unconscionable conduct by withdrawing a bond the subject of mediation, ''in circumstances in which there was no entitlement to demand payment by reason of the want of any liability'', and by requesting more money.
Both companies declined to comment, but a Vodafone spokesman said it was ''a procedural matter … regarding the interpretation of a contract in relation to service credits''.
He said the bond was ''standard practice in a contract of this magnitude and nature'' and had been established at the start of their agreement. Industry lawyers told BusinessDay performance bonds were uncommon in service agreements.
At the time, the agreement was described as ''a unique, full-scope managed transformation'' of the Vodafone network that would integrate Hutchison's 3 network after the companies merged in mid-2009. On February 22, 2011, the chief executive, Nigel Dews, apologised to customers and admitted Vodafone had let them down. He also announced that Huawei, a competitor to Nokia Siemens, was given a contract to replace almost 6000 mobile base stations around the country and install 2200 new base stations. Vodafone did not say what had happened to the seven-year deal with Nokia Siemens.
Vodafone has upgraded some 3000 mobile base stations this year and last week said call drop-out rates were below 0.5 per cent in cities.
The court documents reveal the parties have been in mediation for some time, but have not reached any agreement about liability.
Network problems snowballed into thousands of customer service complaints from people who could not get through to help lines or who wanted to change carriers but were locked into long-term contracts.
Vodafone has also been threatened with a class action by 20,000 customers, but which has failed to materialise, and a Vodafone dealer is seeking $6 million damages for a decline in business due to network problems.
And the industry ombudsman charged Vodafone $6.5 million worth of complaint fees in 2010-11, up from $4.3 million the previous financial year. Revenues from Vodafone's 7.2 million customers were down 3 per cent at $1 billion in the six months ending June 30, and operating margins declined 6.6 per cent.

(C) Sunday Morning Herald

Multiple Telecom Opportunities in Middle East & Africa

Location : Algeria
1. Ericsson OSS Solution Architect 
2. Ericsson GPRS/MPBN Engineers 


Location : Saudi Arabia
1. Implementation manager / PM [Transferable Iqama]
2. TX Engineer [Transferable Iqama] 
3. TX Engineer Microwave [Transferable Iqama] 
4. CW Supervisor [Transferable Iqama] 
5. E&M Engineer [Transferable Iqama] 
6. TI Engineer [Transferable Iqama] 
7. RF eng 2G/3G [Transferable Iqama] 
8. BSC/ RNC Implementation ZTE [Transferable Iqama] 
9. Logistic [Transferable Iqama] 
10. Project Coordinator [Transferable Iqama] 
11. IP/MPLS Network Engg [Transferable Iqama]
12. Site Designer [Transferable Iqama]


Please send CVs to mklasson@saudinetworkers.com

Zain in turmoil and need clear direction

Zain faces an urgent challenge after the most tumultuous year in the company's history.

The Kuwaiti telecommunications operator has been left in disarray after its failure to raise cash by selling off assets and a stake in the group.

Analysts have warned that the company must now take decisive action if it is to stem further share-price declines.

So far, Zain has failed to sell a US$12 billion (Dh44.07bn) controlling stake in the business to Etisalat in the UAE, while plans to raise $950 million by offloading the Saudi Arabian operation have also fallen through.

All this has hit the company's share price, which has tumbled 38 per cent this year, closing last week at 0.93 dinars.

Zain started selling foreign operations last year, with most of its African subsidiaries going to India's Bharti Airtel for $9bn.

Zain faces many problems. It lost several key members of its management team this year, including Barrak Al Sabeeh, the chief operating officer, and Haitham Al Khaled, the chief strategy and business development officer.

Disagreement among Zain stakeholders has also created uncertainty.

The Kharafi Group, a major shareholder with 26 per cent, has led calls for Zain to be sold, but the move has been opposed by other board members.

Kharafi is keen to raise cash. Reuters reported that it owes about $5bn to local banks.

Zain Group also faces a major challenge in Saudi Arabia. It owns a 25 per cent stake in Zain Saudi Arabia, which was recently forced to put forward a capital restructuring plan amid accumulated losses of $2.5bn.

Last month, Saad Al Barrak, the Saudi Arabian division chief executive, resigned after the collapse of talks to sell Zain's stake in the telecoms operation to Kingdom Holding and Batelco.

Andre Popov, a partner at the consultancy Peppers & Rogers Group in Dubai, says Zain "needs to fundamentally change both its strategy and tactical execution" in Saudi Arabia.

"Zain faces two great competitors: Mobily and very nimble incumbent STC [Saudi Telecom Company], who react very quickly to any of Zain's moves," Mr Popov says. "Zain started a price war on international tariffs that was met with swift responses by the other two competitors, and destroyed value for all three companies."

Despite those problems, analysts point to Zain's lucrative operations in markets such as Iraq, Sudan and Kuwait as signs of future growth.

"If you look at Zain today in the Middle East, they own very strong franchises in the countries in which they operate," says Simon Simonian, a telecoms analyst at Shuaa Capital. "And most of them are the number one operators in their respective markets."

But even in these high-potential markets there are challenges. Zain may be forced to pay additional, unexpected licence fees for the right to operate in South Sudan, after that country's formation in July.

"Most of the telecom operators in the region are government-owned, and these are considered as national champions," Mr Simonian says. "So they are buyers, not sellers.

"Zain is in a unique situation. It is not government-owned, and has prime assets where they are the number one operator in key countries in the Middle East," he says.

Matthew Reed, a senior analyst for the Middle East and Africa at Informa Telecoms & Media, echoes those views. A renewed bid for Zain by Etisalat is "not impossible", he says.

But he also warns that Zain must first come up with a coherent strategy for the future.

"If the problems are not resolved, then it could begin to have operational and financial repercussions," Mr Reed says. "One wonders where Zain goes from here."

(C) The National