Huawei has followed up the five-year managed services deal it notched up in May courtesy of Telefónica UK Ltd. (O2) with another U.K. win -- this time with Three UK , or Hutchison 3G UK Ltd. as it is also known. The Chinese vendor will provide operations management for the mobile operator's core network, transport network and Service Provider Information Technology (SPIT) capabilities. For the SPIT bit, Huawei is partnering with India's Tech Mahindra Ltd. An unspecified number of jobs will transfer to Huawei and Tech Mahindra from 3 as part of the deal. (See Huawei Wins 3 UK Deal, Euronews: Huawei Wins Big in UK and Huawei Wins UK Managed Services Deal.)

Ericsson is looking for a new partner for its mobile chip joint venture after STMicroelectronics NV (NYSE: STM) announced that it plans to "exit ST-Ericsson after a transition period." ST-Ericsson , which is undergoing a corporate transformation in an effort to return to profitability, has been losing money for some time. (See Ericsson Seeks New ST-Ericsson Partner, ST-Ericsson Ponders Its Future and ST-Ericsson Posts $148M Loss in Q3.)

Bharti Airtel Ltd. (Mumbai: BHARTIARTL) is to upgrade its African IP backbone with gear from Alcatel-Lucent (specifically the 7750 router, 7705 aggregation router and 5620 network management system). The new network will serve the mobile broadband needs of Airtel's 17 affiliates across the continent, which in turn serve around 60 million subscribers. (See Airtel Builds African IP Backbone.)

Telekom Austria AG (NYSE: TKA; Vienna: TKA) looks like it's going to get a "Nooo!" from the country's competition watchdog over its proposed takeover of budget brand Yesss, according to a report on Reuters. Separately, the Austrian incumbent, which last year launched an investigation into alleged irregularities surrounding contracts awarded to Huawei, has set up what it calls a "whistle-blowing platform" that allows employees and others to anonymously submit information about potential corporate wrongdoing to the company’s management. (See Telekom Austria Probes Huawei Deals.)

Mobile phones in force-for-good shocker: Vodafone Group plc (NYSE: VOD) has announced two partnerships, one with the GAVI Alliance vaccinations charity and the other with pharmaceuticals giant GSK, that will look at ways of using mobile technology to improve immunization programs in sub-Saharan Africa. More than 1 million children die every year from vaccine-preventable diseases, according to the World Health Organization.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading