Fujitsu Ltd. (Tokyo: 6702; London: FUJ; OTC: FJTSY), Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO), Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and Telefónica SA (NYSE: TEF) lead the way in today's roundup of EMEA telecom news headlines.

BT Group plc (NYSE: BT; London: BTA) has a fight on its hands in the U.K.'s FTTH arena following the announcement by Fujitsu that it intends to collaborate with cable operator Virgin Media Inc. (Nasdaq: VMED), ISP TalkTalk and networking vendor Cisco on rolling out an alternative next-generation network serving 5 million homes in rural Britain. (See Fujitsu Plans FTTH in UK and Broadband Britain: The Wait Goes On.)

Spanish giant Telefónica may cut its domestic workforce by 20 percent over the next three years as it shifts its focus to its Latin American operations, reports Bloomberg. The company currently employs around 35,000 people in Spain. (See Euronews: March 24, At Futurecom: A Peek at Brazil's Potential and Euro Carriers Catch Latino Fever.)

Russian operator Altimo and Sweden-based group Telia Company are hoping to remove the current chairman of Turkish mobile firm Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (NYSE: TKC), Colin Williams, at a shareholder meeting next week, reports the Financial Times (subscription required). The pair are seeking to reduce the influence of Turkcell's founder, Mehmet Emin Karamehmet, on the company. (See TeliaSonera Challenges Turkcell on Governance and Turkcell Heads to Germany.)

Chinese giant Huawei is planning to create 500 new jobs in the U.K. over the next three years as it seeks to extend its enterprise and device business there. A further 1,000 to 1,500 subcontractors may also be needed over the same period, says the company. (See Huawei to Hire 500 in UK.)

The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) reports that its first smart grid workshop, held in France earlier this month, attracted more than 250 participants from Europe, the U.S., China, Japan and South Korea. They considered proposals for architectures, communication technologies, data and information management, privacy and security, integration of the smart grid into homes, and looked at feedback from several pilot projects. (See Smart Grid Creates Lucrative Market.)

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading