Sierra Leone Threatens to Take Control of Indebted Mobile Network:

The Sierra Leone government has threatened to take over the management of the local mobile network operator, Comium if the company is not able to settle outstanding financial problems and a strike by its workers.

The company has been in financial difficulties for some time now, and has lost customers to rival networks following complaints about the quality of its service.

Last November, one of its offices was sealed by bailiffs, and the rival networks stopped accepting inbound calls from its network over concerns about its ability to pay the termination fees.

Citing officials at the regulator, CFO World reported that the company has been told to "quickly come into agreement with debtors as well as .... workers, after which the government will allow them to continue with unhindered operation,"

The company has been given two weeks to come up with a meaningful business plan, otherwise the government may exercise an option to take over the company.

USA Pressuring South Korean Network to Cancel Huawei Deal:

South Korea's government has confirmed that it was approached by US officials who raised concerns about a deal between Huawei and the local mobile network operator, LG U+.

The Presidential office confirmed reports that the US government had officially expressed security concerns about the network deployment contract with Huawei, but said that it would take a "business-wise" approach to the issue.

The mobile network operator, LG U+ signed a contract with Huawei in October for the deployment of an LTE network upgrade using its recently acquired 2.6Ghz spectrum.

"It is true that the U.S. has made an issue [out of Huawei advancing into Korea], but it is a basically a trade and business deal," the Blue House source told the Korea JoongAng Daily. "It is not supposed to evolve into a diplomatic dispute and we will try to seek an understanding from the U.S.

A number of US politicians had suggested last month that the South Korean firm's upgrade plans could put US military based in the country at risk from Chinese spying.

"I wonder whether the issue raised by the U.S. lawmakers is technical, diplomatic, or a political one," LG Uplus CEO and Vice Chairman Lee Sang-chul said last month.