Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Iliad fined by French stock market regulator; ARM gets new CFO; Safaricom's Collymore steps down; Telenor's Q1.

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

April 30, 2019

3 Min Read
Eurobites: Huawei Refused to Close Vodafone's 'Backdoor' – Report

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Iliad fined by French stock market regulator; ARM gets new CFO; Safaricom's Collymore steps down; Telenor's Q1.Vodafone's Italian unit found software "backdoors" in Huawei gear back in 2011 which the Chinese vendor refused to remove on the grounds that they were needed for testing and device configuration, according to a Bloomberg report that has ratcheted up the ongoing Huawei hoo-ha several notches. The report cites unidentified people who were involved in security discussions between the two companies at the time, who claim that the backdoor vulnerabilities remained in Vodafone's routers and fixed access network beyond 2012, and that Vodafone kept on using Huawei equipment in the face of these security issues because the gear was so competitively priced. Furthermore, the same vulnerabilities were also present in Vodafone's operations in the UK, Germany, Spain and Portugal, say the sources. (See Huawei 5G Bans Highlight Network Confusion and Vodafone CEO: Huawei Ban Equals Two-Year 5G Delay.)And in more bad news for Vodafone, its UK unit has been named and shamed for not paying its suppliers on time. The Chartered Institute of Credit Management (CICM) has suspended Vodafone UK from its Prompt Payment Code, a government-backed scheme that lists thousands of companies that pledge to "uphold its best practice for payment standards." Vodafone, like the other 11 companies on the CICM's naughty step, has promised to mend its ways.France's Iliad and its chairman, Maxime Lombardini, have been fined a total of €700,000 (US$785,291) by the French stock market regulator for supplying incorrect financial information relating to a number of deals in 2014, Reuters reports.UK chip design firm ARM, which is owned by Japan's SoftBank, has appointed a new chief financial officer. Inder M. Singh joins ARM from Unisys. Part of the attraction for Singh was a chance to return to UK, where, intriguingly, he was a "student in a hill-top castle-like boarding school in the Midlands," according his first-day-in-the-job blog post.Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore is set to step down later this year, according to a Reuters report which also suggests there is uncertainty over the plans to replace him. Collymore had returned to run Kenya's leading operator after several months of sick leave, but ongoing health issues have forced him to step down, says the report. For more on the debate over who should replace him, see this story on our sister site, Connecting Africa.Norway's Telenor is claiming a "solid" start to the year, with first-quarter revenue up 0.3% year-on-year to 27.64 billion Norwegian kroner ($3.20 billion) and EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) down from NOK11.34 billion ($1.31 billion) to NOK11.17 billion ($1.29 billion) this time around. Earlier this month Telenor bought DNA, Finland's third-largest mobile operator, as part of a plan to strengthen its position in the Nordics. (See Eurobites: Telenor Buys DNA for Finnish Foray.)Telensa, a UK-based specialist in wireless smart-city applications, is to collaborate with the digital arm of Samsung, Samsung SDS, on various smart-city projects, the first of which will involve smart street lighting in South Korea.Bouygues Telecom has chosen AirTies' gateway software and mesh extenders in a bid to improve the WiFi experience of its broadband subscribers across France.— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading

Read more about:

EuropeAsia

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.

Subscribe and receive the latest news from the industry.
Join 62,000+ members. Yes it's completely free.

You May Also Like