Euronews: Jan. 3

Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), BT Group plc (NYSE: BT; London: BTA), German cable operator Unitymedia GmbH , and French video and VoIP systems vendor Technicolor (Euronext Paris: TCH; NYSE: TCH) lead the 2011 news charge.

Apple users in Asia/Pacific and Europe were alarmed to find that the arrival of 2011 caused havoc with their iPhones, reports Reuters. The change in year caused a malfunction in the smartphone's alarm, reportedly causing some users to sleep in, miss flights, and arrive late for work.

BT has named six winners of its "Race to Infinity" competition. The winning towns are to be prioritized in the carrier's next generation broadband rollout timetable, and will have their local exchanges upgraded to provide downstream speeds of up to 40 Mbit/s by early 2012 at the latest. (See BT Names FTTx Winners.)

Unitymedia has invested further in Docsis 3.0 technology to pass more than 790,000 homes with its "Fiber Power" service, which offers downstream speeds of up to 128 Mbit/s and high-definition TV.

Technicolor (formerly Thomson) has completed the sale of its Grass Valley Broadcast unit for around US$100 million, a deal first announced in July 2010. The move means the financially-troubled company is nearing the end of its non-strategic asset disposal program. (See Technicolor to Sell Transmission Biz, Technicolor Sells Stake in Screenvision, Technicolor Gets Offer for Grass Valley, Au Revoir, Thomson – Bonjour, Technicolor, and Thomson Revamps, Tackles Debts.)

— Ray Le Maistre, International Managing Editor, Light Reading