Euronews: Verizon's VOD Bid May Fall Short

Verizon Communications Inc., Vodafone Group plc, Alcatel-Lucent and Telenor ASA proffer something for the weekend in today's roundup of EMEA headlines.

Verizon is preparing to launch a US$100 billion bid for Vodafone Group's 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless, reports Reuters. But investors who spoke to The Guardian indicated that $100 billion would be nowhere near enough, and that $120 billion to $135 billion would be nearer the mark.

Alcatel-Lucent's new CEO Michel Combes has his work cut out as he stares at the company's first-quarter earnings report this morning. While revenues, at €3.23 billion ($4.2 billion), were up slightly compared with a year ago, the company reported a significant operating loss, a net loss of €353 million ($460 million) and used up €505 million ($657 million) of cash during the first three months of this year. With the share price heading south, Combes is taking a long, hard look at the vendor's assets and operating model and is set to outline his vision for the future in the coming months. (See Alcatel-Lucent CEO Preps Kill List.)

Norway-based Telenor improved its margins in the first quarter, though revenues were down from 25.11 billion Norwegian kronor ($4.28 billion) a year ago to NOK24.71 billion ($4.21 billion). Geographically speaking, Telenor failed to make hay in India or Pakistan, but performed better on its home ground , as well as in Thailand and Bangladesh.

Nokia Siemens Networks has concluded a field trial with Funet, the Finnish University and Research Network, in which it simultaneously deployed 10G and 100G network connections, in parallel, for a distance of 1,000km. Funet has scientific "big data" needs that it is hoped this two-tone approach will meet. — Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading