Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Teléfonica finally closes E-Plus acquisition; Ericsson buys smart grids specialist; Tieto layoffs in Finland and beyond.

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

October 1, 2014

4 Min Read
Eurobites: Alcatel-Lucent Closes Enterprise Unit Sale

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Teléfonica finally closes E-Plus acquisition; Ericsson buys smart grids specialist; Tieto layoffs in Finland and beyond.

  • Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) is banking just €202 million (US$255 million) in cash proceeds from the sale of an 85% stake in its Enterprise division. AlcaLu announced in January that it was selling the majority stake to Beijing-based communications systems supplier China Huaxin, and now that divestment has been completed. Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, which has about 2,700 staff and which will continue to have its headquarters in France, states that it will now "benefit from a strong and recognised investor" that will help it strengthen its "leadership positions in enterprise communications while accelerating investment in new areas of net growth," with cloud services identified as one area of focus. (See Alcatel-Lucent Shifts Up a Gear to End 2013.)

    • In other Alcatel-Lucent news, CEO Michel Combes has reiterated the vendor's plan to float its subsea networks division, as announced in July. Speaking with reporters at the opening of a research center in Paris, Combes noted that the IPO was still likely to take place in 2015, and that the vendor is in talks with an oil and gas services specialist about its plans for the submarine division. (See Alcatel-Lucent Preps Submarine IPO, Expects Core Growth.)

    • To paraphrase the great Sam Cooke, it's been a long time coming, but we knew a change in the ownership of E-Plus Service GmbH & Co. KG was gonna come. In other words, Telefónica Deutschland GmbH has closed its acquisition of KPN Telecom NV (NYSE: KPN)'s German mobile subsidiary, following a lengthy approvals process and a touch of deal-sweetening. KPN is getting €5 billion ($6.3 billion) in cash and a 20.5% stake in Telefónica Deutschland, a stake that currently carries a value of about €1.92 billion ($2.4 billion). The new combined business, with E-Plus on board, generates annual revenues of about €8 billion ($10.1 billion), and becomes Germany's largest mobile operator by subscribers, with around 41 million customers. It also has about 6 million fixed line subscribers. (See Eurobites: Telefónica Gets EC Green Light on E-Plus Deal and Euronews: KPN to Sell E-Plus for €8.1B.)

    • In other deal-completion news, Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) has dotted the 'i's and crossed the 't's on the acquisition of Ambient Corp. , the Massachusetts-based smart grids technology specialist that was in bankruptcy protection. Ambient's smart grid communications platform provides utilities with a secure, two-way, open IP network architecture. The value of the deal was not disclosed, but it's likely that the price was $7.5 million, the amount bid by the Swedish vendor in August, notes this Greentech Media report.

    • Finland has had its share of telecom-related redundancies in the past couple of years -- think Nokia, for a start -- and here's some more: Tieto Corp. , the Finnish purveyor of Service Provider Information Technology (SPIT) systems and integration services, is to eliminate up to 300 jobs there, as well as another 600 elsewhere in Europe and in Asia, reports Finnish news website YLE. These fresh cuts follow 160 lay-offs announced in August.

    • Tele2 AB (Nasdaq: TLTO) has signed an agreement with Ice Communication Norge AS under the terms of which Ice will buy parts of Tele2's mobile network infrastructure if the Norwegian Competition Authority approves Telia Company 's pending acquisition of Tele2 in Norway. Tele2 will also gain access to 5MHz of Ice's spectrum in the 900 band from today until April 1, 2015.

    • Swisscom AG (NYSE: SCM) is providing the means of secure data exchange for the Zurich Health Network, a pioneering project which allows patients to access documents from their respective medical records. Thirty-six medical practices in and around the Swiss city are taking part in the project. Separately, Swisscom has signed an agreement with SES S.A. (Paris: SESG) to deploy Astra Connect satellite broadband service to reach the places DSL cannot reach.

    • Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa (VMMEA) has finally been able to launch services in Saudi Arabia, Reuters reports. Problems agreeing interconnection with other operators and meeting state security demands had substantially delayed Virgin's launch.

    • UK mobile joint venture EE has launched 4G services in 18 more towns, bringing its 4G coverage to 281 urban areas, which equates to 75% of the UK population, says the operator. Figure 1: EE's 4G has now reached Sandhurst, home to the UK's foremost military training school. And, right on cue, here's Sandhurst graduate Prince Harry having some 4G fun. (Alright, it's a lookalike.) Those EE marketing guys are on fire! EE's 4G has now reached Sandhurst, home to the UK's foremost military training school. And, right on cue, here's Sandhurst graduate Prince Harry having some 4G fun. (Alright, it's a lookalike.) Those EE marketing guys are on fire!

      — Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading

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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