Euronews: Vodafone Gets the Nod on C&WW

Vodafone Group plc (NYSE: VOD), Cable & Wireless Worldwide plc (London: CW) and Transmode Systems AB set out their stalls in today's rummage through the yard sale of EMEA headlines.

Vodafone's proposed £1.04 billion (US$1.63 billion) acquisition of C&W Worldwide was approved by the latter's shareholders at a meeting Monday after a dissenting major shareholder, Orbis Holdings, decided to back Vodafone's offer of 38 pence per share. For more background, see this Bloomberg article. (See Vodafone Offers £1B for C&W Worldwide.)

Swedish optical transport vendor Transmode is in major Service Provider Information Technology (SPIT) mode. It has launched a network management suite called Enlighten (including network planning, design and provisioning tools), unveiled its Intelligent Sync solution for the monitoring and management of its network synchronization capabilities, and has struck a partnership with network synchronization solutions and services specialist Chronos Technology Ltd. (See Transmode Sticks to Growth Path.)

Today it's the Finnish regulator's turn to come under scrutiny by the European Commission , for its approach to pricing of wholesale broadband network access. The regulator, FICORA, has decided not to impose strict "cost-oriented" controls on what the dominant players can charge alternative operators for access to their fiber networks, and Brussels believes this may well contravene its rules.

Telefónica SA (NYSE: TEF)'s Digital division has launched a version of its Tu Me unified communications application for Android smartphones, which is available for download from the Google Play app store. Last month, Telefónica Digitlal started offering Tu Me only for iPhone users. Now, the operator says the application -- which enables users to make voice calls, send text and audio messages, share photos and share location details with other Tu Me users -- will be available to the more than 300 million Android device users worldwide. (See Telefónica Digital Gets Smart and Telefónica Launches Tu Me.)

Siemens Enterprise Communications GmbH & Co. KG has joined forces with Telecom Luxembourg S.A. to market OpenScape Voice, a range of cloud-based telephony offerings for small and medium-sized enterprises. (See Luxembourg Gets Cloud Voice.)

It's perhaps not the most pressing problem in the region, but currency issues in Sudan mean that operators there are facing delays in purchasing telecom equipment, says this Reuters report.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading