Vivendi, the France-based conglomerate that holds majority stakes in SFR and Maroc Telecom , has announced a 4.4 percent growth in net income year-on-year in its 2010 results. Within that overall good news, SFR put a dampener on things by recording an EBITA (earnings before interest, tax and amortization) figure of €2.47 billion ($3.4 billion), down 2.3 percent on 2009, with its mobile unit hit hard by the double whammy of regulation and intense competition on the domestic front. (See Vivendi Reports 2010.)
While we're in a Gallic kinda mood... French video technology vendor Technicolor (formerly Thomson) reported much improved fourth-quarter revenues, up 21.4 percent to €1.16 billion ($1.6 billion), but even that couldn't prevent its full-year sales dipping by 1.2 percent to €3.57 billion ($4.94 billion). The company did, though, drastically reduce its full-year losses to just €69 million ($96 million) compared with €342 million ($474 million) in 2009. CEO Frederic Rose is promising a focus on organic growth, operational efficiency and profitability, but investors seemed disappointed with Technicolor's expectation that revenues and earnings after one-time costs would be only slightly better in 2011: the vendor's share price dipped by 2.5 percent to €5.34 in morning trading Tuesday. (See Technicolor Reports Q4.)
Meanwhile, Level 3 Communications Inc. (NYSE: LVLT) has got the nod from Crytek, a Germany-based online gaming firm, to provide a CDN (content delivery network) and high-speed business broadband service serving its corporate site and associated microsites relating to individual games. (See Level 3 Lands German CDN Deal.)
U.K. broadband provider TalkTalk has had to shell out around £2.5 million ($4 million) in refunds and "goodwill payments" to cheesed-off subscribers following an investigation by the Ofcom . Around 62,000 exisiting and former TalkTalk and Tiscali customers were incorrectly billed for services they had already cancelled, the regulator found. TalkTalk acquired the Tiscali business in January 2010. (See TalkTalk's Billing Mess Costs It £2.5M and Ofcom Warns TalkTalk, Tiscali.)
— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading
WiMax operator Imagine alleges that Moto has been directing it to Nokia Siemens since October to resolve technical and financial issues about the WiMax rollout, according to this Silicon Republic report about the court case:
WiMax operator Imagine alleges that Moto has been directing it to Nokia Siemens since October to resolve technical and financial issues about the WiMax rollout, according to this Silicon Republic report about the court case:
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/comms/item/20648-imagine-sues-motorola-for