France Telecom eyes Egypt

France Telecom and Egypt's Orascom Telecom have reached a settlement over the joint ownership of Egyptian mobile operator ECMS, also known as Mobinil, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Stephane Richard, CEO of France Telecom, says he wants to introduce broadband to both mobiles and fixed lines in Egypt, where France Telecom controls the country's largest mobile operators by the number of subscribers.

Richard says Africa is the telco's main focus in terms of emerging market growth, because other markets, like Asia and Latin America, already have big players.

Communications regulators in East Africa are teaming up to combat foreign attacks on telecommunication systems in the region, states All Africa.com.

Patrick Mwesigwa, executive director of the Uganda Communication Commission, says the five east African states are establishing computer emergency response teams (Certs) aimed at detecting sources of attacks on regional networks by cyber criminals.

The commission plans to establish Uganda's Cert in the new financial year that starts in July 2010.

Nokia Siemens Networks is rolling out its long term evolution (LTE) network in the Middle East Africa region, says Next.

Mohamed Abdelrehim, head of networks systems, Middle East and Africa, for Nokia Siemens Networks, says: “With Nigeria's growing demand for mobile broadband, the growth for the country's operators will now come from advanced mobile data service offerings and not basic connectivity.”

Nokia Siemens Networks says it aims to have five billion people connected by 2015 and plans to showcase next-generation mobile broadband technology to mobile operators in the region.