Ericsson is breaking new managed services ground in Italy with a seven-year deal to upgrade and manage 3 Italia 's data centers and Service Provider Information Technology (SPIT) systems. (See Ericsson Wins SPIT Managed Services Deal.)

Hard on the heels of last week's news that Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) was going to be the first to try out Elisa Corp. 's corporate Long Term Evolution (LTE) services comes the not altogether surprising revelation that the Finnish operator has selected NSN's Single RAN platform for its mobile network upgrade. The project includes the building of a first-phase LTE network and the modernization of Elisa's existing nationwide GSM and 3G networks. (See Elisa Upgrades to LTE With NSN and Euronews: Dec. 10.)

Swedish transport equipment specialist Transmode has expanded its Native Packet Optical portfolio to include a platform that houses eight 10-Gigabit Ethernet ports. The vendor is targeting the 80Gbit/s Ethernet product at carriers looking to offer video distribution, mobile backhaul, Ethernet aggregation, and high-capacity business Ethernet services. (See Transmode Unveils 80GigE System.)

Deutsche Telekom's enterprise services unit, T-Systems International GmbH , has won a €1 billion (US$1.3 billion), seven-year managed services contract with E.ON, the Düsseldorf-based utility firm. The deal, which covers speech and data networks, will apply to E.ON sites in ten European countries. (See T-Systems Wins E.ON Contract.)

It took more than four years, but the wrangle over the ownership of Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa Sp. z.o.o. (PTC) looks to be over, with Deutsche Telekom set to take full control of the Polish mobile operator. It will cost the German giant €1.4 billion ($1.87 billion), though. (See DT Takes Full Control of PTC, DT Wins Court Ruling, Vivendi Wins PTC Ruling, and Vivendi Challenges DT.)

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading