Egypt may offer a license for a fourth mobile operator if the current three mobile firms do not comply with pricing regulations. According to Amr Badawi, head of the National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA), “There are no obstacles to issuing a fourth mobile license in Egypt … but offering the license will mainly depend on market demand in the coming period.”

Apparently, operators have objected to regulations which say that mobile-to-fixed minute rates must not exceed mobile-to-mobile rates between networks. Moreover, before setting these rules and regulations, NTRA has sent queries and surveys to the mobile operators but received no replies. “(They) have the right to approach the administrative court to object about the authority’s decisions,” Badawi added.

We’re not sure whether Egypt will actually get a fourth operator. We do, however, know the existing players which include Mobinil, Vodafone Egypt and Etisalat Egypt. Sounds like a stiff competition…

[Via: Reuters]

T-Mobile announced that it will not charge fees on calls placed to Haiti between January 12 and January 31 in order to support those seeking information on loved ones in the country.

Etisalat has increased its holding in its Indian mobile network by buying a 5.37% stake from Chennai-based Genex Exim Ventures. According to Economics Times, the company paid around Rs 380 crore (about $81 million) for the stake, pushing its holding in the carrier to above the 50% mark.

Earlier this year, Etisalat acquired 45% of Swan Telecom for $900 million, and have renamed the company to Etisalat DB, later in the year. It was also recently reported that Etisalat DB is in talks to merge with another operator – Allianz Infratech…

Zain has expanded its international roaming service, which is known as “One Network,” to include Egypt after signing a partnership with Mobinil. The mentioned service offers roaming across the Zain network (and its partners) with call costs and services charged at the same rate as the home network. Best of all, Zain customers travelling to other countries can recharge their pre-paid accounts with locally purchased top up cards.

Commenting on the service expansion, Zain Group’s Dr Saad Al Barrak said: “‘One Network’ is unstoppable! We have reached an enormous milestone by reaching Egypt, a country that embraces both the Middle East and Africa. In every new country in which we plant the “One Network’ flag, we are redefining the concept of mobile coverage and roaming by delivering on our brand promise of ‘A wonderful world’”.

Finally in case you’re wondering, “One Network” was introduced back in September 2006, and ever since has attained many awards, most recently it was named “Telecommunication Innovation of the Year.”

Roz Ho, Corporate Vice President, Premium Mobile Experiences, Microsoft Corporation in a press release says:

Dear T-Mobile Sidekick customers,

On behalf of Microsoft, I want to apologize for the recent problems with the Sidekick service and give you an update on the steps we have taken to resolve these problems. We are pleased to report that we have recovered most, if not all, customer data for those Sidekick customers whose data was affected by the recent outage. We plan to begin restoring users’ personal data as soon as possible, starting with personal contacts, after we have validated the data and our restoration plan. We will then continue to work around the clock to restore data to all affected users, including calendar, notes, tasks, photographs and high scores, as quickly as possible.