Hadil Ghoneim, whose YA novel A Year in Qenawas was on this year's Etisalat shortlist, fears that YA authors' deference to taboos may be holding their books back.
Shuaa Capital maintains a buy recommendation on the stock, and Mr. Simonian noted that an investor holding Etisalat stock from the beginning of this year would have broken even and outperformed the Dubai Financial Market and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.
Etisalat DB and S Tel, which have joint ventures with Indian companies, announced their intention to discontinue their operations in the country.
"Etisalat Nigeria, part-owned by the Emirati telecommunications giant Etisalat, was fined around $2 million by Nigerian regulators this week for poor service and failure to meet quality targets," Sara Hamdan writes in The International Herald Tribune.
"The difference between Etisalat in the U.A.E. and Saudi carriers is that in Saudi, they are focusing on fixed LTE as opposed to high-speed networks on mobile phones," Mr. Simonian said.
Vivendi canceled the sale of GVT, its Brazilian telecommunications unit, after failing to find a satisfactory price, and it is in the midst of selling its majority share of Maroc Telecom to Emirates Telecommunications, known as Etisalat.
Etisalat Nigeria was only one of several operators fined.
revenue has been declining by single-digit percentages for Etisalat and call revenue is particularly under pressure, but international operations for the company are growing," Mr. Simonian said.
"There are too many taboos on what to write and how to write it," says Taghreed Najjar, who has twice been shortlisted for the YA category of the new Etisalat prize for Arabic children's literature.
Bookstore owner and distributor Zeyna al-Jabri said she doubted whether the Etisalat Prize would make any difference.
Etisalat, the UAE's partially state-owned operator, bought a 50% stake in Atlantique Telecom, which operates throughout west Africa, in April 2005.
