Telenor to appeal court ruling

Norway's Telenor will appeal the recent decision of the Eighth Arbitrazh Appellate Court in Omsk, Russia, holding Telenor liable for approximately $1.7 billion (R17 billion) in damages, reports Cellular News.

The Omsk court has heard, from the start of the court case, the claim by Farimex Products, a British Virgin Islands company, against Telenor. Farimex alleged Telenor's nominees on the VimpelCom Board delayed VimpelCom's acquisition of Ukrainian mobile operator Ukrainian Radio Systems.

Telenor says the claims are baseless and unlawful, although the court decided to grant Farimex's claims in part.

Everybody at last week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona wanted to be the new best friend of the social networks, writes Reuters.

From the world's biggest phone maker, Nokia, to tiny Irish semiconductor start-up Movidia, delegates to the wireless industry's biggest annual gathering couldn't stop talking about Facebook, MySpace and Bebo.

The majority of visits to such online communities are still made by people sitting at a computer telling their friends where they are and how they are feeling, exchanging opinions on their favourite movies and music or uploading videos. But the spontaneous and personal nature of much of that communication lends itself perfectly to the mobile phone.

Bintel has been awarded a 15-year mobile licence from Artel, the telecoms regulatory authority of Gabon, to become the fourth entrant into the country's highly competitive mobile telephony market, states AME Info.

The company is expected to roll out its services in Gabon in the third quarter of 2009.

With this award, Bintel estimates its initial investment in 2009 in Gabon to be in excess of $50 million (R500 million).