In today's EMEA roundup: Iran plans 'domestic' Internet that doesn't include Google; UN ranks Net usage; UK 4G latest; plus NSN, Spirent and ECI
Iran, EE , Spirent Communications plc and Nokia Networks start the week in today's jog through the EMEA headlines.
Following the posting of an American-made anti-Islamic movie on YouTube that prompted protest throughout the Arab world, Iran has announced that it plans to block Google and transfer its citizens onto a separate domestic "Internet" network, reports Reuters. Officials claim the move is an attempt to improve cybersecurity, but Iran has a history of blocking access to what it deems to be "offensive" or "criminal" websites.
European countries dominate a new Internet usage ranking released by the United Nations. In an extensive and insightful report, The State of Broadband 2012: Achieving Digital Inclusion for All, published by the Broadband Commission for Digital Development and freely available for anyone to access, eight of the top 10 nations in the "Percentage of Individuals Using the Internet" ranking are in Europe, headed by Iceland (with 95 percent). Of course, the real point of the ranking and the report in general is to identify the countries that fall below the average of 32 percent and to suggest ways in which those countries might boost their digital capabilities (and illustrate how such a boost can empower their citizens). You can see it right here. (See UN Reports on Global Broadband.)
Everything Everywhere's plans to launch 4G services earlier than its rivals in the U.K. could still be thrown off-course by legal challenges, according to a report in the Financial Times (subscription required) that cites sources "close to the confidential negotiations" between the various operators concerned. A government-brokered "truce" that prevents such legal action is due to expire next week. (See Europe Set for LTE Laggard Status, Britain's Bloomin' LTE and Europe Set for LTE Laggard Status.)
Spirent, the test and measurement specialist, is to sell its PG Drives Technology unit to Curtiss-Wright Corp. for US$64 million. PG Drives designs and supplies DC and AC controllers for electric vehicle applications in the medical mobility and industrial markets. The vendor recently announced the $52-million acquisition of Metrico Wireless Inc. (See Spirent Sells Non-Telecom Unit and Spirent to Buy Mobile Device Test Specialist.)
NSN's cost-cutting program, which involves the loss of thousands of jobs worldwide, is ahead of schedule, according to CEO Rajeev Suri, speaking in a Reuters interview. (See Restructuring Costs Hit NSN's Q2 and NSN Could Lose More Than 17,000 Staff.)
Romanian cable TV and Internet service provider RCS & RDS has deployed ECI Telecom Ltd. 's tasty OMLT (Optimized Multi-Layer Transport ) technology to provision 100Gbit/s channels on its existing transport network. (See Romanian Operator Does 100G With ECI and ECI's New Flavor of P-OTS.)
— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading
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