Euronews: Chinese Bristle at EU Proposal

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., ZTE Corp. and VimpelCom Ltd. lead the charge in today's assault on the EMEA headlines.

Chinese diplomats have alleged that a top EU trade official has demanded European telecom equipment suppliers be given a larger share of the Chinese market in return for the EU dropping an investigation into suspected state subsidies of Chinese vendors' exports. According to the Financial Times (subscription required), Karel De Gucht, an EU trade commissioner, has proposed the deal, insisting that Huawei and ZTE raise the price of their exported equipment by 29 percent as part of any agreement. (See Euronews: EU Says No to Trade War With China, Euronews: China Warns EU Over Protectionism and Euronews: EC Sharpens Knives Over Huawei, ZTE.)

Russian operator Vimpelcom is considering selling its domestic fixed-line broadband business as it shifts the focus to mobile, according to a report on Reuters that cites Russian daily Vedomosti.

SPIT vendor ResponseTek is claiming that it has achieved a 20 percent increase in contract extensions for "at-risk" customers through the deployment of its customer experience management (CEM) software at T-Mobile Austria. The software basically prompts "senior agents" at the operator to call disgruntled customers and persuade them that their customer service isn't so bad after all. (See T-Mobile Austria Improves CEM With ResponseTek.)

Middle East conglomerate Abu Dhabi Group has reacquired 100 percent ownership of Warid Telecom Pvt. Ltd. by buying Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (SingTel)'s shares in the Pakistan operator for an undisclosed sum. — Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading