Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Vodafone eyes Altice cast-off; Slovakia hopes for $1.1 billion from IPO; Huawei gets Irish FTTH gig.
Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK)'s up-for-sale mapping unit, HERE, has attracted the attention of at least four potential buyers, according to a Reuters report, citing German magazine Manager Magazine. Interested parties are said to include Facebook and a consortium of German carmakers. (See Nokia Puts HERE Up for Sale.)
Vodafone Group plc (NYSE: VOD) has held talks with France's Altice about buying Cabovisão S.A. , the Portuguese cable operator that Altice had agreed to sell off as a condition of its acquisition of Portugal Telecom from Brazil's Oi, reports the Financial Times (subscription required).
The government of Slovakia has announced that it plans to raise up to $1.1 billion through the IPO of its 49% stake in Slovak Telekom . The stake will be listed on the Bratislava and London stock exchanges.
Irish incumbent eir has given Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. the nod for the first phase of its FTTH rollout, with the initial contract being worth an estimated €10 million (US$10.7 million). The Chinese vendor will supply optical line terminals and optical network terminals supporting speeds of up to 1 Gbit/s.
Swisscom AG (NYSE: SCM), meanwhile, has stayed local for its new network management platform, choosing Switzerland's Albis Technologies Ltd. and its MetroIntegrator offering, which will be used to configure and manage Swisscom's Ethernet services.
Swisscom has also launched a new "smart home" system, dubbed SmartLife, which allows subscribers to remotely monitor their properties via their smartphone apps or via the Internet, with monthly subscriptions starting at 9.9 Swiss francs ($10.30).
Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) has notched up a content delivery win in Italy, providing its Velocix platform to Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA to support the launch of new video and TV services for both fixed-line and mobile subscribers.
— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading