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AT&T struggles to defend open cloudiness of Ericsson deal
More than a year into the Ericsson-led rollout, there is very little evidence AT&T's radio access network is as multivendor and virtualized as the telco makes out.
Also in today's EMEA roundup: Q3 profits down at KPN, Transmode and ADVA; EE unveils its 4G tariff
Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK), KPN Telecom NV (NYSE: KPN) and Transmode Systems AB lead the way in today's cruise through the EMEA news.
Nokia, faced with a rapidly diminishing cash pile, is looking to raise €750 million (US$977.8 million) by issuing convertible bonds. The bonds, which are due in 2017, are expected to yield a coupon -- or interest rate -- of between 4.25 percent and 5 percent per annum. (See Euronews: Nokia Cash Burn Freaks Analysts.)
Fierce competition in its German market -- where it operates E-Plus -- was partly blamed by Dutch incumbent KPN for a 32 percent year-on-year fall in third-quarter net profits to €250 million ($325 million). (See Euronews: Slim Makes His Move on KPN.)
Third-quarter profits are also down at Transmode, the Swedish optical equipment vendor. They slipped from 53.5 million Swedish Kroner ($8.1 million) in the year-ago period to SEK38 million (5.7 million) this time round, though the CEO was keen to point out that the year-ago figures included some big-ticket order items, a mobile backhaul contract for Virgin Media among them. (See Transmode Reports Q3 Profit of SEK 38M, XO Shows Some Love for Transmode and Transmode Wins Virgin Media Deal .)
Foreign currency exchange variations played their part in a drop in third-quarter net profits for ADVA Optical Networking , from €9.7 million ($12.6 million) in 2011 to €3.5 million ($4.5 million) this year -- this despite a 3.7 percent rise in revenues for the German vendor. (See ADVA Reports Q3 Profit of €3.5M, ADVA Makes 100G Debut and ADVA Mixes OpenFlow With Optical.)
The wait is over for British consumers as EE revealed today just how much it will cost to subscribe to the country's first 4G service as well as the operator's new fiber broadband offer. 4G service bundles will start at £36 (US$57) per month for 500MB of data and go up to £56 ($90) per month for 8 GB of data. The fiber broadband packages will start at £15 ($24) per month. Both new services will launch on Oct. 30. (See EE Unveils 4G Price Plans, 4G in the UK, Brits Braced for 4G and Euronews: EE 4G Plan Gets Thumbs-Up.)
Vodafone Group plc (NYSE: VOD) is broadening the reach of its M-Pesa mobile money transfer service by connecting it to an international remittance hub. This will allow M-Pesa customers to send and receive funds via their mobile phone accounts by connecting directly to more than 21 international money transfer businesses in 35 countries. (See Pyramid: Mobile Money Is on the Move in Africa.)
Using über-athletes Usain Bolt and Mo Farah in its advertising campaign doesn't seem to have done U.K. cable operator Virgin Media Inc. (Nasdaq: VMED) any harm – its operating income for the third quarter reached £180 million ($287 million), up from £128.4 million ($205.3 million) in the same period a year ago. It had 39,500 net cable additions in the quarter.
Orange (NYSE: FTE) is claiming a world first with the launch of HD voice services between the neighboring eastern European nations of Romania and Moldovia. (See HD Voice: Can't Hear You Now.)
— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading
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