Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT), Technicolor (Euronext Paris: TCH; NYSE: TCH), Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) and BT Group plc (NYSE: BT; London: BTA) are the leading pack in today's EMEA telecom news sprint.

Deutsche Telekom has teamed up with MasterCard to launch a mobile payments service, initially in Poland and Germany. German consumers will be able to take part in a trial using mobile phone tags and cards, to be followed by a "mobile wallet" service that will be open to other issuing banks and partners. The German operator is also talking with other potential partners, including Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), reports Bloomberg. (See DT, MasterCard Team Up and German Operators Team on Mobile Money.)

Technicolor, which recently secured a new capital increase, has completed the sale of its Broadcast Services unit to Ericsson, which is paying €19 million (US$23.9 million) plus a potential additional fee of up to €9 million ($11.3 million) depending on the financial performance of the unit in 2015. About 900 Technicolor staff are joining Ericsson's Global Services division as part of the deal. (See Ericsson Closes Technicolor Deal, Technicolor to Raise Fresh Funds, Euronews: Investors Fight Over Technicolor and Euronews: Ericsson to Buy Technicolor Service Biz.)

BT and Fujitsu Ltd. (Tokyo: 6702; London: FUJ; OTC: FJTSY) have emerged as the only companies bidding for a slice of the £530 million ($831 million) in U.K. government funding earmarked to speed the rollout of high-speed broadband to rural corners of Britain, reports the Financial Times (subscription required). In some areas BT is the sole bidder for the contracts, which are to be awarded by local authorities under the so-called "national framework agreement." (See UK Govt Allocates Broadband Funding, BT Preps 'Landmark' FTTC Investment and Fujitsu Unveils UK FTTH Plan.)

The European Commission has give the green light for Vodafone Group plc (NYSE: VOD)'s $1.57 billion takeover of Cable & Wireless Worldwide plc (London: CW). Details of the decision are available here. (See Euronews: Vodafone Gets the Nod on C&WW and Euronews: Bids 'Imminent' for C&WW.)

In a commentary piece for Information Week, Eric Zeman concludes that, if Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK)'s Windows Phone-based comeback strategy flops, Plan B has to be -- hold on to your Lumias! -- Nokia adopting Android. (See Euronews: You're on Your Own, Govt Tells Nokia, Nokia Poll Update: Farewell Independence? and Euronews: Market Ponders Nokia's Future.)

Arqiva , the U.K.-based communications infrastructure and media services company, is to acquire Spectrum Interactive, a Wi-Fi hotspot operator with a presence at 2,100 locations, for £23.4 million ($36.7 million). (See Arqiva to Buy Spectrum Interactive and Arqiva, AlcaLu Trial LTE in UK.)

Want to see more evidence of Free Mobile 's effect on the French mobile market? Here's some: Bouygues Telecom is about to announce a voluntary redundancy plan potentially affecting hundreds of workers, according to a Reuters report that cites Les Echos. (See Iliad Disrupts the French Mobile Scene .)

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading