Euronews: Will Ericsson Buy Microsoft's IPTV Biz?

Ericsson AB, Microsoft Corp. and Nokia Siemens Networks are in the frame for today's snapshot of EMEA news.

Is Ericsson about to buy Microsoft's Mediaroom IPTV business? That's the rumor doing the rounds on Bloomberg. One of the unnamed sources cited in the report said that the transaction could be announced "within a few weeks." (See Telefónica, Microsoft Build Global Video Platform.)

It's a busy time for Ericsson: The vendor has made 919 Swedish employees redundant and reduced its operations by 1,399 positions in fulfillment of cuts announced last November. The redundancies were made across nine sites, with Stockholm -- where 560 workers were laid off -- bearing the brunt. (See Ericsson Concludes Swedish Job Cuts and Ericsson Sheds 1,550 Staff in Sweden.)

Nokia Siemens Networks has injected some 4G fizz into Tango, the Luxembourg operator, implementing its Liquid Core network and its circuit-switched fallback (CSFB) system. Tango claims to be the first operator in Luxembourg to offer 4G mobile broadband. (See Tango Does 4G With NSN and NSN Hangs Its Future on the Liquid Net.)

Can you dig it? Oh yeah -- but we'd rather not, if it's all the same to you, thanks: The European Commission has issued a set of draft regulations intended to speed up the rollout of high-speed broadband. Included in the proposals are plans to better coordinate civil works, so that fresh trench-digging and permit-seeking will be kept to a minimum. Also, they suggest that all new buildings will be fiber-ready, to avoid costly and time-consuming retrofitting.

The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) has warned the European Commission that mandating specific wholesale fees for access to copper lines will end up making broadband more expensive for the consumer in certain countries, reports Reuters. Consumers in the Netherlands, Austria and eight other EU countries would lose out, according to the regulators.

Thousands of Finnish employees of TeliaSonera are set to down tools today (Wednesday) and tomorrow in protest at planned job cuts, reports Reuters. The operator announced in October that it was going to cut around 2,000 jobs as part of a strategy to reduce costs by a net 2 billion Swedish kronor (US$300 million) over the next two years. (See Euronews: TeliaSonera to Cut 2,000 Jobs.) — Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading