Africa’s largest telecom service provider, MTN has released a statement that it is currently in negotiations with Orascom to buy a part or all of it.

The talks that MTN are having with Orascom’s parent company, Weather Investments SpA, may bear fruit for MTN. It may succeed in buying Orascom or at least certain businesses of Orascom. The South Africa based company and Orascom, both have confirmed that the negotiations are still in progress.

MTN is looking forward to expanding its already large hold over the middle-east and Africa. Major telecom companies of the world like Vodafone are seeking to expand their network in Africa.

France Telecom announced that it would pay a global settlement fee of $300 million to Orascom Telecom Holding. This was because it was a part of their agreement on the Egyptian telecom operator, Mobinil. This finally concluded a prolonged dispute between the two major telecom companies.

This settlement fee is also supposed to be a part of the agreement that both companies presented in front of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority. According to officials from France Telecom, this fee will only be payable when a restated and amended shareholders’ agreement will come into power.

Earlier this summer, Orascom and France Telecom announced

Saudi Telecommunications Company also called STC recently signed an agreement with a Russian company, Kaspersky Labs which develops solutions for secure content management so as to provide security to all users of smartphones in the kingdom.

Being the first telecom company in the middle-east to do so, STC has succeeded in providing security to almost 4 million smartphone owning subscribers against proliferating mobile phone malware. The service costs about SR12.

Abdullah Al-Kanhal, the SDD of STC, said in a statement that STC has made proper services for subscribers and security its priority.

Vodafone has increased the number of discussions with its prominent U.S. partner, Verizon Wireless in an effort to resume payment of dividends by Verizon Wireless in their rapidly growing American joint venture.
In the past few weeks, both the companies have conducted wide ranging talks intended to break the stalemate over the bright future of Verizon Wireless. Vodafone owns 45% stake of the American telecom giant whereas Verizon wireless owns the remaining 55 % stake.

Even though it adds to a third of Vodafone’s in service profits, Verizon Wireless has blocked all payments of dividends since 2005.