French cable operator Numericable-SFR and its parent Altice are preparing to offer Vivendi €11 billion (US$15.2 billion) in cash as part of an offer that would see Numericable merge with French telco SFR , according to this Bloomberg article. Numericable isn't the only company interested in SFR's fixed and mobile services business, as Iliad (Euronext: ILD) (best known for its Free brand in France) and Bouygues Telecom are also believed to be considering an offer.

Etisalat is expanding the reach of its 4G radio access network with gear from Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU). The United Arab Emirates (UAE) operator plans to introduce evolved Multimedia Broadcast Service (eMBMS) and cloud services over its 4G network during 2014, following the network expansion. The two companies first announced their 4G relationship in late 2011. (See Etisalat Expands 4G with Alcatel-Lucent and Euronews: Etisalat Tunes to AlcaLu's lightRadio.)

IHS Holding Ltd., which manages and leases mobile towers across Africa, has raised $490 million -- through the sale of equity ($420 million) and securing debt ($70 million) -- to fund its expansion. The company, which has raised $1.5 billion during the past 12 months, further expanded its network in December 2013 through the acquisition of 1,228 towers in Rwanda and Zambia from MTN Group Ltd. , and will use its new funds for further acquisitions and to build new towers. (See France Telecom Outsources African Towers.)

Telia Carrier is adding two new points of presence (PoPs) to better meet growing demand for connectivity to and from the Middle East and Africa. One PoP is in Dubai, in a facility run by datamena, a carrier-neutral datacenter set up in 2012 by Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Co. (du) . TIC has also forged a partnership with Ooredoo, which will operate and manage a PoP in Doha, Qatar, for TIC.

— Ray Le Maistre, Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading