Euronews: BT Lands 10-Year Deal With O2

BT Group plc, Vodafone Group plc, Verizon Communications Inc. and Telenor ASA start the week in today's cruise through the choppy waters of EMEA telecom.

Speculation is rife that BT is looking to get back into mobile itself in a big way, but in the meantime its wholesale arm has signed a new ten-year deal with O2 under the terms of which it will provide high-capacity transmission services to bolster O2's 4G chops. As part of the program, BT will help O2 migrate from legacy TDM to Ethernet-based IP backhaul services. (See BT Wholesale Lands O2 UK Deal and Euronews: BT Seeks 4G Partner.)

The buzz continues over Verizon Communications' possible purchase of U.K.-based Vodafone's 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless, with tax strategy considerations considered to be key to any Verizon bid, according to this Reuters report. (See Euronews: Verizon's VOD Bid May Fall Short.)

Norway's Telenor has acquired GloBul, Bulgaria's second-largest mobile operator, for €717 million (US$937 million). Telenor already has a strong presence in central Europe, with operations in Hungary, Serbia and Montenegro. (See Telenor Buys Globul.)

Pan-European service provider Interoute Communications Ltd. says it has invested millions of euros in the expansion of its data center in Ghent, Belgium, which now has 1,500 square meters of space that can house up to 8,000 servers for collocation and hosting.

Sea Fibre Networks has extended the reach of its CeltixConnect network to Paris, which has become something of a data-center hotspot, and also acts as a termination point for international subsea cables running between the U.S. and Europe. (See Sea Fibre Networks Reaches Paris.)

NTT Communications Corp. is setting up shop in Moscow, offering a range of data-center services via IXcellerate’s Moscow One carrier-neutral data center in the Russian capital. (See NTT Comms Goes to Moscow.)

Many Brits who want to start rolling their eyes at the new "control with a glance" Samsung Corp.'s Galaxy S4 mobile will have to wait a while, according to this BBC report. According to Samsung, demand for the S4 has been "unprecedented" and is exceeding supply in the U.K. (See Samsung Galaxy S4: Gesturing at the Future.) — Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading