Metaswitch Networks , ZTE Corp. (Shenzhen: 000063; Hong Kong: 0763) and Orange (NYSE: FTE) are all up to something in today's roundup of news from the EMEA region.

Metaswitch has added to its growing technology portfolio with the acquisition of Norwegian instant messaging and presence applications specialist Colibria AS . (See Metaswitch Makes Its LTE Apps Move.)

ZTE is blowing its own trumpet over its managed services progress in Europe. Contracts with the likes of Hutchison 3G Austria GmbH and Poland's Polkomtel SA have helped pump up the volume. (See ZTE Boasts Managed Services Growth, MWC 2011: 3G Austria Dumps NSN for ZTE and Polkomtel Upgrades With ZTE.)

French regulator Arcep has ruled in favor of France Telecom in a dispute between the incumbent and fierce rival SFR over number portability charges. SFR thought it was being charged too much; ARCEP said non. (See ARCEP Rejects SFR Portability Gripes and Vodafone Sells SFR Stake for $11B.)

Russian operator Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (MTS) (NYSE: MBT), which has just acquired Siberia's Inteleca, has revealed its fourth-quarter financials for 2010. Net income is up 36.1 percent to $1.38 billion year-on-year but sequentially the news isn't so good -- net income was down 67.7 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the preceding period. (See MTS Acquires Russian Altnet and Euronews: April 5.)

Moroccan mobile startup Inwi has signed up 5 million customers and grabbed a 13.5 percent market share in its first 12 months of operations. (See Inwi Grabs Market Share in Morocco .)

A group of U.K. Internet service providers, Virgin Media Inc. (Nasdaq: VMED) and TalkTalk among them, have written an open letter to Communications Minister Ed Vaizey complaining about BT Group plc (NYSE: BT; London: BTA)'s "duct and pole" access charges, the BBC reports. BT charges from £0.95 (US$1.35) a meter for duct sharing and £21 ($30) per pole attachment. (See BT Tables Duct & Pole Proposals.)

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading