Eurobites: Colao to leave Vodafone in the fall

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Iliad revamps top table; BT joins forces with Europol; NetScout gets the nod from Telefónica.

Vittorio Colao is to step down as group CEO of Vodafone Group plc (NYSE: VOD) in the fall, to be replaced by Nick Read, the current group CFO. Colao became CEO in 2008, and during his tenure has overseen numerous strategy shifts at the operator, the latest being the attempt to acquire some of Liberty Global's European assets in a bid to become more of a "converged" operator. The closure of that deal will now likely fall upon his successor. In a statement, Vodafone Group Chairman Gerard Kleisterlee described Colao as "an exemplary leader and strategic visionary who has overseen a dramatic transformation of Vodafone into a global pacesetter in converged communications." And if he has any plans for life post-Vodafone, Colao isn't revealing them yet. (See Vodafone Prioritizes Automation as Efficiency Bolsters Margins and Vodafone's Colao, DT's Höttges Lock Horns in Barca.)

Also changing faces at the top table is France's Iliad (Euronext: ILD), which has appointed Thomas Reynaud at its new CEO, who in turn has appointed Nicolas Jaeger as its group CFO. The changes come as Iliad announces its first-quarter earnings: Revenues inched up 0.8% year-on-year to €1.2 billion (US$1.4 billion), with landline business shrinking by 1.6% and mobile revenues climbing 3.9%.

BT Group plc (NYSE: BT; London: BTA) has reached an agreement with Europol, the EU law enforcement agency, to share knowledge and data relating to potential cyber attacks.

Telefónica has certified NetScout Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: NTCT) 's vScout and vStream offerings for use with the operator's Unica Lab architecture that supports networks based on NFV and SDN. NetScout completed a set of tests that, according to a statement, "demonstrated pervasive visibility across physical, virtual and cloud networks."

Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT) is launching what it calls "end-to-end bundles" for companies wanting to get to grips with the Internet of Things. The bundles contain hardware, mobile connectivity, cloud storage and a "user-friendly" web portal. The first two bundles being offered cover "asset tracking" and "industrial machine monitoring" -- more will follow in due course.

Separately, DT's vectoring-based network rollout trundles on, with 140,000 more households being brought within reach of 100Mbit/s download speeds. The cities benefiting from the latest push include Paderborn, Rheinfelden and Bochum-Wattenscheid.

Openreach , BT's quasi-autonomous network access division, is today launching a consultation with communications service providers, seeking views on its plan to withdraw analogue technology and move to VoIP services by 2025. The consultation runs until July 27.

Orange International Carriers is switching on a direct connection between Marseille in the south of France and Penmarch, in the country's far north-west. This cable will allow Orange to open up new access between Asia, the Middle East and West Africa.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) is tooling up with militaristic language for its latest launch: the Advanced Command Center. The system is intended to facilitate better decision-making by public safety agencies, using analytics and IoT technology to provide "acoustic signatures" and track environmental changes, among other features.

In other Nokia news, the vendor has appointed Sri Reddy co-president of IP/Optical Networks (ION) business group and member of the "group leadership team." Reddy, who is currently senior vice president and general manager of the Routing Business Unit in ION, will share responsibilities in his new role with Basil Alwan.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading