Euronews: AlcaLu Lands FTTH Trial

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), Bezeq, The Israel Telecommunications Corp. Ltd. (OTC: BZQIF) and Skype Ltd. strut their stuff in today's helping of EMEA telecom headlines.

AlcaLu saw off rivals Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) and Nokia Networks to provide Israeli incumbent operator Bezeq with access equipment for an FTTH trial ahead of commercial deployment later this year, according to Globes. AlcaLu has also helped Bezeq in the construction of a new subsea cable, dubbed "Jonah," running from Israel to Italy. (See Bezeq Lights Subsea Cable.)

Skype has been deemed the U.K.'s most highly rated telecom brand by research firm YouGov, reports PC Advisor. Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) topped the brands table overall, while Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), perhaps surprisingly, languished at number 40 in the list. (See Facebook Likes Skype.)

French regulator Arcep has officially awarded blocks of 800MHz spectrum to Bouygues Telecom , Orange France and SFR . The mobile market in France has recently been shaken up by the arrival of Iliad (Euronext: ILD) and its cut-price tariffs. (See French Regulator Awards 4G Licenses and Iliad Disrupts the French Mobile Scene .)

Telefónica SA (NYSE: TEF)'s International Wholesale Services unit has chosen Hibernia Atlantic 's subsea link between Europe and the U.S. to add capacity to its international backbone. (See Hibernia Lands Telefónica Deal.)

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading