Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Free 1, Orange 0; Net Insight buys ScheduALL; du goes gigabit for gaming.

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

September 3, 2015

2 Min Read
Eurobites: Things Get Hairy for Combes

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Free 1, Orange 0; Net Insight buys ScheduALL; du goes gigabit for gaming.

  • The flak attack on former Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) CEO Michel Combes has been ratcheted up a notch, with the French Economy Minister, Emmanuel Macron, describing his move to Altice before the completion of Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK)'s takeover of AlcaLu as "shocking." According to this Reuters report, Macron told reporters that it is "not normal that a big company boss is the first to jump ship." Altice confirmed on Monday that Combes was its new CEO, as well as the chairman of its Numericable-SFR business, replacing Altice founder Patrick Drahi in the latter role. (See Ex-AlcaLu Boss Tasked With Bolstering Altice and Nokia Makes €15.6B Bid for Alcatel-Lucent.)

    • Elsewhere in French telecom, regulator Arcep has ruled in favor of mobile operator Free in its legal dispute with Orange over extra fees added by Orange to the cost of Free using its fiber backhaul network.

    • Net Insight AB (Stockholm: NETI-B), the Stockholm-based video delivery specialist, has acquired ScheduALL, a provider of ERM (enterprise resources management) software for media, broadcast and transmission businesses, for $14 million. ScheduALL posted revenues of $10.6 million and net profits of $0.7 million in 2014. The companies had been working together for some time, jointly developing an SDN offering which Net Insight now hopes to enhance with new services and applications. For more on Net Insight's long-term plans, check out this audio interview with its CEO, Fredrik Tumegård (Light Reading registration, which is free, is required).

    • Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Co. (du) says it is now offering the fastest broadband services in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) following the launch of its gigabit broadband service, which, it claims, offers "a seamless gaming and home entertainment experience." The operator says the service should be of particular interest to the “emerging gaming community” in the UAE.

    • Orange (NYSE: FTE) is having a management reshuffle in Africa and the Middle East. Éric Bouquillon replaces Alassane Diene as CEO of Orange Guineau; Alassane Diene replaces Jean-Luc Bohé as CEO of Orange Mali; Jérôme Hénique replaces Jean-François Thomas as CEO of Jordan Telecom; and Thierry Marigny replaces Jérôme Hénique as deputy CEO of Sontal in Senegal.

    • Irish operator eir suffered a major outage Wednesday, with 5% of call volumes affected. It affected businesses that use 1800 and 1500 numbers, as well as some mobile numbers. The operator has also revealed details of its re-branding exercise: eircom is to become… "eir". You can say what you like, but those branding guys are worth their weight in gold.

      — 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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