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Dubai / WAM Smart Dubai, the government office leading Dubai’s smart city transformation, has been selected by the United Nations’ International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to co-chair the global Working Group on Data Economy, Commercialisation and Monetisation. The announcement was made at the ITU’s meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, where the Union, as the UN’s main body handling information and communications technology ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The subscription base in UAE mobile phone services expanded 2.4 percent during H1 2017 to 18.7 million subscribers from 18.26 million in the corresponding period last year. The growth reflects the vibrant and robust nature of the UAE’s telecommunications sector which is considered a significant mainstay of the economy. According to recent data released by Etisalat, ...

DUBAI / Emirates Business Emirates airline announced a partnership with The General Secretariat of The Executive Council of Dubai, which will see it air a video describing the ‘Dubai Font’ story to flyers from around the world. Designed to reflect the modernity and culture of innovation that exists within Dubai, the video will see the city further cement its reputation ...

Bloomberg At a glass-wrapped industrial estate in London north of the River Thames, Brexit is giving global broadcasters a headache. From a screen-packed, server-filled studio, Discovery Communications Inc.—home of channels including Animal Planet and Eurosport—transmits more than 120 TV feeds into Europe. Across the road, Walt Disney Co. licenses foreign language versions of its popular kids channels beamed to the ...

Bloomberg Canada’s biggest builder is keeping its focus at home even as US President Donald Trump pledges to ramp up infrastructure spending next door. SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. is bidding on projects such as light-rail lines in Ottawa and Toronto and a $4.7 billion rapid-transit system for Montreal, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau follows through on a pledge to invest C$120 ...

Bloomberg Volkswagen AG is offering as much as 10,000 euros ($11,800) to drivers in Germany willing to trade in older diesel cars for a newer auto, intensifying a push to get aging vehicles off the road as the company’s emissions scandal evolves into an industrywide crackdown. The namesake VW brand will give back 2,000 euros to buyers of a new ...

Bloomberg As Toyota Motor Corp. and Mazda Motor Corp. begin to scour the US for where to put the first auto assembly plant announced under US President Donald Trump, one state looks like a frontrunner: Mississippi. The Magnolia State already is home to a Corolla factory that’s been producing the compact car for almost six years. Toyota and Mazda plan ...

DUBAI / Reuters Saudi Arabia will cut crude oil allocations to its customers worldwide in September by at least 520,000 barrels per day, an industry source said on Tuesday, as the top oil exporter makes good on its pledge to help rein in a global supply glut. State oil giant Saudi Aramco will cut supplies to most buyers in Asia ...

Bloomberg Egypt is opening the door to private participation in its natural gas sector, moving to end the state’s monopoly as it pushes ahead with reforms meant to encourage investment and revive the economy. The new law signed by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi sets up a natural gas regulatory authority charged with licensing and devising a plan to open the gas ...

DUBAI / Reuters Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co said on Tuesday it had secured a $1.2 billion Islamic loan from National Commercial Bank (NCB) to help repay a previous facility with the lender that matures next week. The company, an affiliate of Saudi Basic Industries Corp , said the new loan was for five years, replacing the seven-year loan of same ...