Alcatel-Lucent's network construction and maintenance contract with Swiss operator Sunrise Communications AG has been ended prematurely, reports Telecompaper. Apparently, Sunrise, which was sold by Danish incumbent TDC A/S (Copenhagen: TDC) in 2010, decided to terminate the seven-year deal, struck in 2008, to give itself greater flexibility in the enterprise and wholesale sectors. AlcaLu will continue to work with the operator until the end of February 2012. (See Sunrise Ends AlcaLu Deal, TDC Sells Swiss Sunrise for $3.2B and Sunrise Outsources to AlcaLu.)

Vivendi's telecom units did not bring much to the entertainment group's first-half results party, reports the Financial Times, with domestic operator SFR recording a 3.9 percent year-on-year decrease in mobile revenues and earnings at Maroc Telecom falling 11 percent over the same period. (See Vodafone Sells SFR Stake for $11B and Pyramid: Three's a Crowd in Morocco.)

Not much to cheer about either at SFR's rival Bouygues Telecom, which saw net profits slip 19 percent year-on-year to €213 million (US$307 million) in the face of fierce domestic competition.

The Italian 4G mobile spectrum auction has begun in earnest, reports Reuters, with bids in from Telecom Italia (TIM) , Vodafone Group plc (NYSE: VOD), VimpelCom Ltd. (NYSE: VIP)'s Wind and 3 Italia .

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) has two, related, things to tell us: First, it plans to collaborate and invest in Vision+, an independently run innovation investment fund, as part of a plan to broaden application and games development for its ecosystem; and, second, it is saying goodbye to Tero Ojanperä, executive vice president and a member of the Nokia Leadership Team, who departs to take on a new role as managing partner of ... new investment fund Vision+. (Euronews loves a bit of symmetry.) (See Nokia Shells Out for Windows Phone Development , Nokia Teams with Vision+ Fund and Nokia Exec Resigns.)

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading