Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Maroc Telecom's revenues down; ex-Xerox exec to supervise VEON; Nokia reclassifies its financials.

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

July 24, 2017

2 Min Read
Eurobites: Cattaneo Hopes for €30M Kiss-Off

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Maroc Telecom's revenues down; ex-Xerox exec to supervise VEON; Nokia reclassifies its financials.

  • Telecom Italia (TIM) CEO Flavio Cattaneo is hoping for a payout of around €30 million (US$34.9 million) when he leaves Telecom Italia, the Financial Times reports (subscription required), a move prompted by his disgruntlement at the growing influence of Vivendi on the Italian operator. (Vivendi now controls Telecom Italia's board and owns around 24% of its shares.) And, according to Reuters, Cattaneo is already on the defensive about his anticipated windfall, telling La Republicca newspaper: "The severance package I will get is not a scandal." For its part, Vivendi is apparently concerned that Cattaneo's approach to broadband network rollout in rural areas has caused upset with the Italian government. (See Telecom Italia CEO to Quit Next Week – Report.)

    • Formerly owned by Vivendi and since 2013 a part of Etisalat , Morocco's Maroc Telecom has revised its full-year financial outlook following its half-year results, predicting a slight decrease in revenues (due to regulatory measures) and stable EBITDA. During the first six months of 2017 Maroc Telecom recorded a 2.8% year-on-year drop in revenues, to 17.09 billion Moroccan Dirham ($1.79 billion), while EBITDA remained flat at MAD8.52 billion ($894 million). There were a number of exceptional items during the accounts period, including the finalization of a voluntary redundancy plan for 1,068 employees (to date) and the payment for the second part of the global license obtained in Ivory Cost in March 2016 for MAD1.6 billion ($167 million).

    • The former head of Xerox Corp. (NYSE: XRX), Ursula Burns, has been elected as chairman of the supervisory board of VEON, the Russia-based group previously known as VimpelCom. Guy Laurence, a telecom veteran with spells at Rogers Communications and Vodafone behind him, has also been elected to the board. Alexey Reznikovich, the outgoing chairman, will continue to serve as a member of the board.

    • Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) is changing the financial reporting structure for its Networks business, breaking it down into three "reportable" segments, namely Ultra Broadband Networks (comprising products that were previously part of the Mobile Networks and Fixed Networks business groups); Global Services (comprising services that previously fell within the Mobile Networks group); and IP Networks and Applications (comprising what were the separate IP/Optical Networks and Applications & Analytics business groups). For details of how this jiggery-pokery affects previously published results, see this press release.

      — 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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