Euronews: Openreach CEO Jumps ShipEuronews: Openreach CEO Jumps Ship

It's official: Didier Bellens, the CEO of Belgacom SA (Euronext: BELG), is on his way. Bellens upset both regional and federal government in various ways, which isn't a good idea when the government is the majority shareholder in your company. Ray Stewart, Belgacom's CFO, will take temporary charge of the company until a permanent replacement is found. In this company statement, the hope was expressed that Stewart and his team "will see to it that the daily functioning of the company continues in a serene and efficient way," -- which is another way of warning the management team not to mouth off about the government. (See Euronews: Belgacom CEO for the High Jump.)

Alcatel-Lucent has forged a three-year global partnership with NextiraOne that strengthens the duo's relationship in the enterprise communications technology and services market. See this press release for more information. The news comes as market speculation suggests Alcatel-Lucent is once again seeking to offload its enterprise business. (See Euronews: AlcaLu's Enterprise Biz Back on the Block .)

Russian operator MegaFon has completed the first phase of its 100G "Diverse Route for European and Asian Markets" (DREAM) project, which runs from Frankfurt-am-Main in Germany to the Kazakhstan-China border. This first phase, which was completed with the help of Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. , provides DWDM channels with speeds of up to 10 Gbit/s. (See MegaFon Completes Phase 1 of DREAM Project.)

The Luxembourg data protection regulator has cleared Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT)'s Skype Ltd. unit of data privacy violations connected to the ongoing NSA controversy, reports Bloomberg. What's it got to do with little ol' Luxembourg? That's where the two tax-savvy companies choose to have their European headquarters.

A one-year study conducted in secondary schools in East Africa and funded by Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) has concluded that ICT in education is a great idea -- but only if its introduction is supported by appropriate teacher training, reliable connectivity, and a consistent energy supply. See this press release for more details on the project.

And finally: Never mind the snow-capped majesty of the Alps, I wanna get on Facebook! The European Commission has given the all-clear to airlines to allow passengers to use 3G and 4G technology when flying over European Union airspace (until now only 2G was allowed). Of course, it will be up to the individual airlines to decide which services they will offer passengers, and to equip their aircraft accordingly. More details of the Commission's decision are available here.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading