Dream of working for a media company in a trendy city with great food, nice beaches, and beautiful people? We in Abu Dhabi may think we have it all, but Kuv Capital, a Lebanese venture cap firm, is hoping to raise up to US$20 million to build a media production zone in Beirut, a la Dubai Media City. Given that the Lebanese contribution to Middle Eastern entertainment and media is pretty significant (oh Nancy Ajram, you are eternally hand-washing your laundry in our spotless minds), and the general appeal of Beirut as a place to live, this sounds like a good idea, long overdue.
In the latest installment of Regulatory Smackdown, Volume XXIV, Etisalat said late on Thursday that it has submitted a detailed breakdown of its internal cost structure to the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA). Thursday was the deadline for the report, which the TRA has been requesting from Etisalat for years. The cost structure will be used in setting prices, and this is all generally good news for competition and, please pretty please, lower prices.
Virtual is the new physical: The Dubai-based mobile operator,Friendi, launched its first network, and the first "virtual" mobile network in the Middle East, in Oman last week. It hopes to run up to 20 more in the next few years. We got the lowdown from its chief executive.
As long as nobody starts another text message spam company, I'm happy: Tunisiana, the Tunisian mobile operator, has launched a seed fund for entrepreneurs building services businesses in the mobile space. They will invest up to 30,000 Tunisian Dinars (Dh80,000) in startups they think have some potential. Startup Arabia has more.
Looking for a job in space? Or at least the space industry? Khaleej Times reports a local company is organising job fairs for those with a passion for the Final Frontier.
Vodafone Qatar's billion-dollar IPO was fully subscribed, thanks in part to a fatwa from the local religious establishment letting everyone know the company and its business is Shariah-compliant. And speaking of public offerings, the FT tech blog reports that April was the best month for tech IPOs in more than a year.