Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Ericsson trials LAA with SingTel; WiFi Internet boost in Lagos; VEON exec heads to Digicel; BT's new legal eagle.

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

December 11, 2017

2 Min Read
Eurobites: Nokia COO Leaves After Just 9 Months in Job

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Ericsson trials LAA with SingTel; WiFi Internet boost in Lagos; VEON exec heads to Digicel; BT's new legal eagle.

  • Monika Maurer, who has been chief operating officer of Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) for just nine months, is to step down from the role and leave the company. Maurer, who became a part of Nokia after it acquired Alcatel-Lucent, will be succeeded by Joerg Erlemeier, another Nokia veteran who most recently was senior vice president of Nokia's Transformation unit. Erlemeier will report directly to CEO Rajeev Suri. Figure 1: Joerg Erlemeier, who replaces Monika Maurer as Nokia's chief operating officer. Joerg Erlemeier, who replaces Monika Maurer as Nokia's chief operating officer.

    • Sweden's Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) says it combined with Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (SingTel) (OTC: SGTJY) to achieve a peak speed of 1.1 Gbit/s in a trial of a new "12-layered" configuration of Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) technology conducted at a laboratory owned by the Singaporean operator. Licensed Assisted Access is a variant of LTE that enables LTE networks to make use of unlicensed spectrum in the 5GHz band to increase network capacity.

    • In Nigeria, connectivity provider Main One Cable Co. and towers company Tizeti have teamed up with Facebook to expand Internet services in the major city of Lagos. The service will be delivered to end users via WiFi, using Tizeti's new solar-powered towers.

    • Alexander Matuschka has left VEON , which operates in Russia and across various emerging markets and was formerly known as VimpelCom, to take up the role of group chief executive at Jamaica's Digicel Group . He succeeds Colm Delves, who is stepping down for "personal and family reasons" after 13 years at the helm.

    • BT Group plc (NYSE: BT; London: BTA) has appointed Sabine Chalmers as its new general counsel, according to a City AM report. Chambers, who will replace Dan Fitz in her new role, was most recently chief legal officer at drinks giant Anheuser-Busch.

    • Spotify , the Swedish music-streaming company, and China's Tencent Music are to buy minority stakes in each other, Reuters reports. The size of the stakes was not disclosed. Spotify is expected to go for a stock market listing in the first half of 2018.

      — Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading

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About the Author(s)

Paul Rainford

Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading

Paul is based on the Isle of Wight, a rocky outcrop off the English coast that is home only to a colony of technology journalists and several thousand puffins.

He has worked as a writer and copy editor since the age of William Caxton, covering the design industry, D-list celebs, tourism and much, much more.

During the noughties Paul took time out from his page proofs and marker pens to run a small hotel with his other half in the wilds of Exmoor. There he developed a range of skills including carrying cooked breakfasts, lying to unwanted guests and stopping leaks with old towels.

Now back, slightly befuddled, in the world of online journalism, Paul is thoroughly engaged with the modern world, regularly firing up his VHS video recorder and accidentally sending text messages to strangers using a chipped Nokia feature phone.

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