Euronews: Vodafone Takes Control in India

Vodafone Group plc (NYSE: VOD), Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) and Global Crossing (Nasdaq: GLBC) provide the fireworks in the July 4 edition of our EMEA regional roundup.

U.K.-based mobile behemoth Vodafone is buying out its Indian partner, Essar, for US$5.46 billion, giving it total ownership of India's third largest mobile operator, Vodafone India . The move is in line with its policy of only owning foreign assets where it has control, a strategy that saw it rid itself of its share in Polish mobile operator Polkomtel last week. (See Vodafone Buys Out Essar in India, Vodafone in Spat With Essar, Euronews: Ericsson Buys, Vodafone Sells and Vodafone's $554M India Bill.)

There's plenty happening at Nokia in the pre-Windows-Phone-7 limbo period. The handset giant is completely pulling out of Japan, reports Reuters, citing Nikkei. This entails the closure of its Vertu handset stores and the termination of its phone service, which was run on network infrastructure leased from NTT DoCoMo Inc. It has also been telling the Financial Times (subscription may be required) that it plans to "think local" with its apps, differentiating them in line with specific markets, to help claw back some of the ground lost to the likes of Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) in that arena. (See Nokia Puts Microsoft Strategy Into Action .)

The team responsible for mobile coverage at the London 2012 Olympics is less than confident that the networks will be able to cope with the anticipated traffic volumes come the starting pistol, reports the Daily Telegraph. It is thought that there may be thousands of roughly 9-seconds-long videos being uploaded via mobiles in the wake of Usain Bolt doing his thang in the 100 meters.

Services firm Global Crossing (Nasdaq: GLBC) has been named as one of three suppliers forming part of the U.K.'s new public-sector managed voice and data network, the breezily titled Managed Telecommunications Convergence Framework (MTCF). The MTCF, it is hoped, will allow the public sector to benefit from access to a new configuration of hosted IP telephony, unified communications and videoconferencing services. (See Global Crossing Wins UK Public Sector Deal and Ethernet Europe: Global Crossing's Jeff Smith.)

Vodacom Pty. Ltd. , South Africa's biggest mobile operator, has cut off around a million users for failing to register their SIM cards, reports Reuters. The Regulation of Interception of Communication Act made such registration mandatory in the country.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading