Orange (NYSE: FTE), Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), BT Group plc (NYSE: BT; London: BTA), Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), Technicolor (Euronext Paris: TCH; NYSE: TCH), Telefónica SA (NYSE: TEF) and Swisscom AG (NYSE: SCM) are the stars in today's regional news roll call.

France Telecom/Orange has upgraded its 720-kilometer Paris-London connection to 100 Gbit/s using Alcatel-Lucent's coherent optical technology. The operator upgraded the AlcaLu 1626 Light Manager it had already had deployed in its long-haul transport network. The upgrade is the latest in a string of 100 Gbit/s wins for the vendor. (See AlcaLu, NSN Storm LatAm, Euronews: AlcaLu Turns On 100G for Oni, Shaw Goes 100G With AlcaLu, Rostelecom Does 100G With AlcaLu and P&T Luxembourg Does 100G With AlcaLu.)

BT is digging in for a legal battle with Google, which, the British operator claims, has infringed a number of its patents. (See It's BT's Turn to Sue Google.)

French video technology specialist Technicolor (formerly Thomson) is cutting 600 jobs as part of an accelerated cost-cutting exercise ahead of what is expected to be a challenging 2012, particularly in Europe. The cuts will result in restructuring-related charges of €100 million (US$130 million). The news sent the firm's share price down more than 4 percent to €1.01 on the Paris exchange.

Telefónica has launched an online video service called Videoteca as part of its Imagenio IPTV offering, reports Advanced Television.

Swisscom AG (NYSE: SCM) is creating a new division specifically for M2M (machine-to-machine) services. The Swiss incumbent, which says demand for M2M communications increased by 10 percent during the final quarter of the year, expects more than 100 million machines to be part of Switzerland's "Internet of Things" in the future.

Bulgaria's regulator CRC has awarded 1800 MHz licenses to three competitive service providers, Max Telecom, 4G Com and Bulsatcom, which can use the spectrum to offer 2G, 3G or LTE/WiMax services. The country recently abandoned a separate 3G license tender due to lack of interest. The country's mobile services market is dominated by Mobiltel, Globul and Vivacom (BTC), with that trio set to control the market for the foreseeable future, according to a recent report from Pyramid Research . (See Converged Service Offerings Are Key to Bulgaria .)

— Ray Le Maistre, International Managing Editor, Light Reading