Euronews: Nov. 24

Orange (NYSE: FTE), Sunrise Communications AG , and JSC Ukrtelecom jostle for position in today's roundup of Euro telecom news bites.

The chairman of Switzerland's second-largest operator, Sunrise, has said that merger talks with France Telecom could once again be a possibility, according to AFP, citing Handelszeitung. The outgoing owners of Sunrise, Denmark-based TDC A/S (Copenhagen: TDC), had previously hoped for a merger with Salt SA 's Swiss business but COMCO, the Swiss competition commission, had vetoed the plan.

The proposed privatization of Ukraine's largest operator, Ukrtelecom, has attracted the interest of five companies to date, reports Ukrainian News. Three of the interested parties are Ukrainian, one is Russian, and the other is from an unnamed country.

Check this out! Dutch News reports on the creation of a new angel statue for the St Jans cathedral in Den Bosch. Wings? Check. Beatific expression? Check. Mobile phone? Oh yes, check. Looks a bit chunky, mind -- think it's time for an upgrade... sort it, God.

A group of ISPs and cable operators are merging to form Bulgarian Telecom and Television (BTT), a unified service provider with about 150,000 customers. (See ISPs, MSOs Merge in Bulgaria.)

UK market research firm YouGov has teamed up with broadband measurement company Epitiro to do a full and frank study of how Britain's much maligned ISPs shape up in terms of speed and reliability, reports V3. The resulting report is due to be published early next year. (See Ofcom Tests Broadband Speeds.)

Skulduggery afoot in the UK, where a former employee of T-Mobile (UK) has pleaded guilty to stealing confidential customer information and selling it to a rival operator, reports Cellular News. The sensitive information in question included details of when the customers' contracts expired, allowing the unnamed rival company to cold-call T-Mobile subscribers in a bid to lure them away.

Elsewhere in Europe:

• Orange Boasts HD Voice
  
• Britain's Digital Divide Deepens
  
• Runa Capital Backs OnAir3G
  
• Nokia Appoints CMO

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading