Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Mobily swings to a Q2 loss; mobile boosts Telkom's fiscal Q1; BT launches 4K sports content.
Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) has agreed to sell its mapping services unit, HERE, to a consortium of German carmakers, for €2.8 billion (US$3.06 billion). HERE has been developing a "location cloud" that seeks to harness the data generated by vehicles, devices and infrastructure to deliver real-time data location services. Once the sale is complete, Nokia will consist of just two businesses, Nokia Networks and Nokia Technologies. (See Carmakers Closing In on Nokia HERE – Report and Nokia Networks Enjoys 'Terrific Rebound'.)
More bad news for Etihad Etisalat Co. (Mobily) : After last week having to restate its results for the previous 27 months, wiping profits of nearly 1.76 billion Saudi Arabian riyals ($469 million) off its books, the Saudi operator has announced a second-quarter net loss of SAR900.9 million ($240.2 million), reports Reuters. It attributed some of the loss to costs incurred in a dispute with rival Zain KSA (Zain Saudi Arabia) . The good news is that shares in Mobily can resume trading today on Riyadh's bourse -- they were suspended in June in the wake of accounting shenanigans at the operator.
Net revenues at South Africa's Telkom SA Ltd. (NYSE/Johannesburg: TKG) crept up 1.7% year-on-year to 6.5 billion South African rand ($510 million) in its fiscal first quarter, thanks mainly to a 68.5% rise in mobile net revenues, to R350 million ($27.47 million). Fixed-line voice usage revenues slipped 13.7% as the number of voice lines declined by 5.3% to a still not inconsiderable 3.39 billion.
Wandera, a San Francisco-based mobile data security specialist, has joined forces with enterprise mobility vendor CWSI to supply secure mobile gateway services to 3 Ireland 's business customers.
In what is unlikely to be seen as surprise move, BT Group plc (NYSE: BT; London: BTA) has chosen its own media services unit, BT Media & Broadcast, to deliver BT Sport's new 4K Champions League soccer content. Sunday's FA Community Shield, in which last season's FA Cup winners, Arsenal, defeated Premiership champions Chelsea 1-0, was the first BT Sport match to be shown on the new 4K channel. In July, BT Sport announced that it plans to launch what it claims is the first live sports ultra-high-definition channel in Europe. (See BT Unveils UHD TV Prices in Challenge to Sky.)
— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading
Comment (10)
