Euronews: Belgacom Exec Cleared in Huawei Payments Probe

The EMEA region is to bear the brunt of the 10,000 worldwide job losses announced at Alcatel-Lucent today. In its official statement, AlcaLu said that 4,100 staff in the region would lose their jobs, including 900 support, sales, and administrative staff in France. On a more positive note, the vendor plans to recruit several hundred staff in France as it focuses its European R&D operations in Villarceaux, south of Paris. (See Alcatel-Lucent to Cut 10,000 Jobs.)

Telecom Italia (TIM) 's stock rating is getting dangerously close to "junk" status, according to agency Standard & Poor’s , reports Reuters. The debt-laden operator has had a turbulent time in recent weeks, with the departure of former executive chairman Franco Bernabe and the installation of Marco Patuano as its new CEO. (See Euronews: Telecom Italia Boss on the Brink.)

Russia's Rostelecom plans to put a lid on capex over the next four years and concentrate on Internet services, reports Reuters, citing Russian business daily Vedomosti. In 2012 Rostelecom invested 28.4 percent of its revenues; in 2014 it hopes to cut this figure to 20 percent and to 10 percent the year after.

Orange Business Services has won a five-year contract extension with AkzoNobel, the paints giant that employs around 50,000 people worldwide. The multi-million-euro deal covers a scalable private network for AkzoNobel's 1,200 sites, managed LAN services, application acceleration services, and telepresence.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading