Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Ericsson tweaks top table; silly job titles just got sillier; Drei Austria schutz the Internet.

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

August 22, 2019

2 Min Read
Eurobites: Nokia Hires Ericsson Insider

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Ericsson tweaks top table; silly job titles just got sillier; Drei Austria schutz the Internet.

  • Nokia may get some insight into its Nordic rival's activities after hiring a former Ericsson executive as its new chief strategy officer. Gabriela Styf Sjöman spent ten years at the Swedish equipment vendor between 2004 and 2014 before joining Telecom Italia as vice president of engineering. She then moved back to Sweden to work in senior management roles at Telia and was the operator's head of networks and global services immediately before today's announcement. Her appointment means Kathrin Buvac, Nokia's previous chief strategy officer, is vacating that role to focus on her other job as president of Nokia Enterprise, the part of the business catering to various industries deemed "adjacent" to the telecom sector. Sjöman will report directly to CEO Rajeev Suri and, unsurprisingly, her focus will be on 5G. "Her insight will be critical in refining our strategy for the future," said Suri in a statement.

    • In other Nordic management maneuvers, Ericsson has appointed Fadi Pharaon as SVP and head of Market Area Middle East & Africa, replacing Rafiah Ibrahim, who leaves the role on August 31 to become an advisor to CEO Börje Ekholm. Pharaon, who has notched up more than 20 years with Ericsson, has also been made a member of the vendor's Executive Leadership Team. Currently Pharaon is vice president, Networks & Managed Services within Ericsson's Market Area Europe & Latin America.

    • And while we're on the subject of appointments… The telecom industry has been awash with daft job titles for years, usually overblown and overlong exercises in self-aggrandizement, but here's an absolute corker: Telia has appointed Sara Nordbrand, currently head of sustainabilty at The Church of Sweden, as "Head of Daring Goals." The Daring Goals in question apparently state that Telia will be carbon dioxide neutral with zero waste, "throughout the value chain" by 2030. At Eurobites Towers we prefer to aim low to avoid disappointment.

    • Hutchison Drei Austria has launched the rather forbidding-sounding "Internetschutz," a security-as-a-service offering powered by NetworkSecure, the latter created by Israel's Allot. Each month Allot receives a fee from Drei derived from the actual number of Drei subscribers using the Allot cybersecurity offering.

    • Beeline Kazakhstan, which forms part of the VEON empire, is launching a new cloud TV service based on Kaltura's cloud TV platform. Through the TV Internet Doma Service, Beeline customers will be able to access premium live channels and a large video-on-demand catalog on their set-top box or connected TV.

      — Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading

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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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