Nokia Corp., Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and Google are among the big beasts in today's EMEA telecom news jungle.

The former CEO of Nokia is to resurface as the chairman of Zenterio, a Swedish set-top box software vendor, reports Reuters. Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo was replaced as Nokia chief by Stephen Elop in 2010. (See Nokia Dumps CEO, Hires Elop, Euronews: Ex-Nokia Chief's €8M Paycheck.)

Norway's Telenor ASA has chosen Huawei's second-generation E-Band and full outdoor (FO) microwave system for its LTE backhaul. Huawei has done similar work for Vodafone D2 and Telefónica Czech Republic A.S., among others.

Google has paid around £1 billion (US$1.3 billion) for a 2.4 acre site in London's King's Cross district, reports the BBC. The search behemoth plans to build a new 11-storey U.K. headquarters, replacing existing sites in nearby Holborn and Victoria.

Iliad, which owns the cut-price Free Mobile brand in France, has said that it is unlikely to pursue any mergers or acquisitions, despite recent speculation to that effect. In this Reuters report, however, the firm's CEO hinted that network sharing might be the way forward.

The decimation of the U.K.'s high streets continues with the news that Everything Everywhere Ltd. (EE) is to close 78 of its stores, reports Tech Radar, though the operator has said that no staff will be made redundant. The stores were only rebranded recently, following the creation of the Orange UK/ T-Mobile (UK) joint venture. — Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading