Qtel announced that it has begun the implementation of its programme for 'Fibre to the Home' (FTTH), which aims to connect homes in Qatar with high-speed fibre connections over the next three years...

Syria is to have a third mobile operator, the country's cabinet revealed at its weekly session. According to the Syria Arab News Agency, the new operator will enter the market in a three-phase process, "including initial rehabilitation, investment and technical rehabilitation and the financial auction"...

The UAE Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) has said it has not asked Etisalat and Du to suspend their alternative plans for Blackberry customers in the UAE, as talks between the UAE authorities and manufactures of Blackberry still remain inconclusive, Khaleej Times has reported. "Talks are going on between the UAE officials and the Canadian company RIM which manufactures the Blackberry phones...

Ericsson, a leading provider of technology and services to telecom operators, hosted a demo event that focused on the organization's well-developed broadband and multimedia ecosystem, which delivers high speed data, enriches the customer experience and provides connectivity anywhere...

Six of the region's leading telecom operators have signed an agreement to build and maintain a multi-terabit terrestrial cable system to connect the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria to Europe.

eProject portal, the UAE government's major IT development intended to link together its IT infrastructure at a federal level has been completed, according to provider eHosting Datafort.

Mobily and Zain Saudi Arabia have both announced increased revenues for the second quarter of the year, indicating that significant potential remains in the Saudi Arabian mobile sector.

The United Arab Emirates has taken the initiative to protect Intellectual Property Rights by applying successful procedures to prevent illegal decryption of PayChannels on the internet.

Huawei, a leader in providing next-generation telecommunications network solutions for operators around the world, participated.

CapRock Communications announced it has signed a contract with Yahsat's wholly owned subsidiary, Star Satellite Communications Company PrJsc.

Demonstrating its commitment to nurturing young local talent, Du has awarded its first franchise license to an UAE-based company AST Telecomm LLC.

Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) successfully concluded testing Long Term Evolution (LTE - more commonly known as 4G) with its giant telecommunications infrastructure and mobile networking partner Huawei.

Mohammed Gheyath, executive director for technology development affairs at the UAE's Telecoms Regulatory Authority, has said that only local firms will be given licences for VoIP, Reuters has reported. 'No licences for international companies like Skype for the time being, they can join existing licensees and have partnerships with them,' he said. Currently, local operators Etisalat and Du as well as satellite firms Yahsat and Thuraya are licensed to offer VoIP.

Vodafone will finally be able to offer fixed broadband and telephone services in Qatar, after the country's telecoms regulator issued it with the country's second public fixed networks and services licence.

Etisalat's Chairman Mohammed Omran has said that it has the right to withhold payments to Pakistan for failure to transfer some properties under a $2.6bn deal to acquire a stake in Pakistan Telecommunication Co, Bloomberg has reported. The company said its board of directors had obtained a legal opinion from international and external counsel that all steps for the sale of the asset had been followed and the acquisition was legally valid under Pakistani law. "Under the agreed terms of the transaction, Etisalat is entitled to withhold payments until the property titles were transferred to PTCL," Omran said.

Du, the UAE's second largest mobile operator, with a cellular subscriber base of 3.48 million at December 31, 2009, will get vendor financing from Nordea Bank for the purchase of NSN equipment to enhance and expand its 2G network infrastructure with new base station sites and associated technologies, the Dubai-based telecom firm said.

Indian telecom major Bharti has clinched a mega $10.7 billion deal to acquire African operations of Kuwaiti firm Zain, which March 25 announced that “definitive agreements” would be signed soon.

Juniper Networks has announced a major set of new solutions and partnerships which it says will "reinvent the experience and economics of networking".

The new releases include new processors, new Junos software, new solutions...

Cisco today announced a major advancement in Internet networking, the Cisco CRS-3 Carrier Routing System (CRS) designed to serve as the foundation of the next-generation Internet and set the pace for the astonishing growth of video transmission, mobile devices and new online services through this decade and beyond.

With just over a year since commercial operations commenced in the Kingdom, Zain Saudi Arabia (Zain KSA) announces revenues for the third quarter of 2009 (July 1 to 30 September 2009) of SR825m ($220m), up 18% compared to Q2, 2009...