Euronews: NSN Raises €800M in Bond Sale

Interoute Communications Ltd., Nokia Siemens Networks and TeliaSonera AB help start the week in today's romp through the EMEA headlines.

Troubled joint venture Nokia Siemens Networks is refinancing some of its debt by raising €800 million (US$1.04 billion) from a bond sale. That's a positive for the joint venture, as it had been seeking to raise €600 million ($778 million): That it managed to sell more than announced shows there is confidence in the financial markets that NSN has a future. (See NSN to Refinance Debt.) In other NSN news, a report on Street Insider also reveals that the firm has been ordered by a German court to offer outgoing CFO Marco Schroeter a new position within the company until his dismissal proceedings are concluded. Last month NSN announced that Schroeter was going to be replaced by Samih Elhage.

Pan-European service provider Interoute defied industry trends by increasing its revenues and profits in 2012. The operator, which has been aggressively developing and launching various cloud services, has reported a 12 percent year-on-year increase in revenues to €410 million ($533 million) and a 16 percent increase in EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax and other stuff) to €79 million ($102.7 million). (See Interoute Offers Cloud Hosted Microsoft Lync and Interoute's Silver Lining.)

Sweden's TeliaSonera is claiming to have scored a European first with the launch of a subscription service that allows a family (or other group) to pool their data allowance across all their respective devices. Up to seven such devices can be connected to the main subscription, which starts at 399 Swedish kroner ($61) per month. (See Verizon: One Data Bucket to Rule Them All.)

In a project that is being billed as the first 100 percent fiber network in France, United Technologists Europe Ltd. (UTEL) has delivered the equipment that will be used to upgrade the network in and around Pau, a city in south-west France. Axione will be carrying out the upgrade, following UTEL's specifications.

Fujitsu Ltd. is planning to inject £800 million ($1.2 billion) into its U.K. operation to reduce its pension deficit and offer scope for investments, reports Marketwatch, citing the Financial Times. Might some cloud-related acquisitions be on the horizon? — Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading