Euronews: AlcaLu Closes In on Major FTTH Deal

Alcatel-Lucent, Vodafone España S.A. and TeliaSonera AB proffer something for the weekend in today's roundup of EMEA headlines.

Alcatel-Lucent has all but won a major fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) equipment and support services deal from Vodafone España, according to reports in the Spanish press. According to a report in business newspaper Expansion (subscription required), the contract is not yet signed and is subject to a few clarifications but is regarded as a done deal. The vendor will install its access equipment and customer equipment and maintain the fiber broadband access network. Alcatel-Lucent declined to comment, while the Spanish operator had not responded to a request for comment as this article was published. In March this year, Vodafone España and Orange Spain announced plans to invest €1 billion (US$1.3 billion)in shared fiber access broadband networks that will pass 6 million Spanish households by 2017. (See Euronews: €1B Boost for Spanish FTTH.)

First-quarter sales at Nordic operator TeliaSonera were down 0.9 percent year-on-year to 24.5 billion Swedish kroner ($3.7 billion), with profits down 0.3 percent to SEK4.1 billion ($629 million). In a statement, the company said that several factors put the dampeners on its performance, one of them being the exceptionally cold weather, which slowed the rollout of fiber broadband connections. And in the light of its troubles over investments in Uzbekistan, the operator has initiated a "thorough review" of its dealings with its Eurasian company partners over the past few years. Horse, stable door, that kind of thing. (See Euronews: TeliaSonera CEO Quits.)

Also feeling the chill winds of a changing mobile landscape is Finnish operator Elisa Corp., which saw first-quarter EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) fall to €109 million ($142.6 million) from €121 million (€158 million), reports Reuters.

The BBC reports that shares in Nokia Corp. fell 13 percent following Thursday's first-quarter results statement, which showed that despite a healthy rise in sales of its heavily promoted Lumia models the overall trend for Nokia devices was a downwards one. (See Euronews: Nokia Devices Still on the Slide.)

Vodafone Group plc is taking its "Red" service plan across 14 European markets, offering consumers and businesses such goodies as: unlimited calls and texts; "very generous" mobile data allowances: and "world-class" online protection of personal data. — Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading