The Saudi telecoms regulator has stopped Mobily from selling prepaid Sim cards until its meets all provisioning requirments. Fayez Nureldine / AFP
The Saudi telecoms regulator has stopped Mobily from selling prepaid Sim cards until its meets all provisioning requirments. Fayez Nureldine / AFP
The Saudi telecoms regulator has stopped Mobily from selling prepaid Sim cards until its meets all provisioning requirments. Fayez Nureldine / AFP
The Saudi telecoms regulator has stopped Mobily from selling prepaid Sim cards until its meets all provisioning requirments. Fayez Nureldine / AFP

Hiccup on the line for Mobily


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Etihad Etisalat weighed on Saudi Arabia's main equity index yesterday after the kingdom's second-biggest telecoms operator said the regulator had halted its sale of new prepaid Sim cards.

Etihad Etisalat said it will be able to resume selling prepaid cards only when it "fully meets the prepaid service provisioning requirements".

Etihad Etisalat, also known as Mobily, fell as much as 1.72 per cent in mid-afternoon trading. The shares closed 2.06 per cent lower to 71.25 Saudi riyals each.

In Abu Dhabi, shares in the UAE telecoms company Etisalat, which is a major shareholder in Mobily, slipped 0.2 per cent to Dh9.92 each.

"We believe for now that the impact would be minimal, especially that Mobily can always mitigate it with offers more focused on postpaid or data segments," said Nadine Ghobrial, an analyst at EFG Hermes, in a note to clients.

Still, the note cautioned that "if that 'partial' suspension is in place for a long time, a quarter or a couple of quarters, then this could potentially become an issue".

The Saudi Tadawul All-Share Index fell 2.12 per cent to close at 6,524.15.

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index fell 0.2 per cent to 2,636.53 points, while the Dubai Financial Market General Index added 0.3 per cent to 1,601.84.

Elsewhere in the region: Kuwait's measure slipped 0.1 per cent to 5,878.75; Bahrain's index added 0.2 per cent to 1,040.93; Oman's MSM 30 Index slipped 0.1 per cent to 5,546.05; and Qatar's QE Index added 0.4 per cent to 8,448.35.

About%20My%20Father
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ELaura%20Terruso%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERobert%20De%20Niro%2C%20Sebastian%20Maniscalco%2C%20Kim%20Cattrall%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202%2F5%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
HIJRA

Starring: Lamar Faden, Khairiah Nathmy, Nawaf Al-Dhufairy

Director: Shahad Ameen

Rating: 3/5

Quick%20facts
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Pharaoh's curse

British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.

Lexus LX700h specs

Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor

Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm

Transmission: 10-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh590,000

THE DETAILS

Director: Milan Jhaveri
Producer: Emmay Entertainment and T-Series
Cast: John Abraham, Manoj Bajpayee
Rating: 2/5

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
  • Priority access to new homes from participating developers
  • Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
  • Flexible payment plans from developers
  • Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
  • DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Our legal consultants

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
A German university was a good fit for the family budget

Annual fees for the Technical University of Munich - £600

Shared rental accommodation per month depending on the location ranges between  £200-600

The family had budgeted for food, books, travel, living expenses - £20,000 annually

Overall costs in Germany are lower than the family estimated 

As proof that the student has the ability to take care of expenses, international students must open a blocked account with about £8,640

Students are permitted to withdraw £720 per month

War 2

Director: Ayan Mukerji

Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana

Rating: 2/5

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Key findings of Jenkins report
  • Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
  • Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
  • Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
  • Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
Sheikh Zayed's poem

When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.

Your love is ruling over my heart

Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it

Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home

You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness

Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins

You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge

You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm

Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you

You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it

Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by. 

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills