Euronews: Ericsson Buy Beefs Up Services Offer

Ericsson is to bolster its consulting and Service Provider Information Technology (SPIT) services capabilities with a targeted acquisition. The Swedish giant has agreed to buy (for an undisclosed sum) Devoteam Telecom & Media (T&M), the French division of European IT services firm Devoteam that, we understand, has absolutely nothing to do with these boiler-suited anarcho-popsters of yesteryear. Once the acquisition is complete, probably in the second quarter of 2013, 400 Devoteam T&M employees will transfer to Ericsson. Devoteam T&M generates revenues of about €35 million (US$47 million) per year. (See Euronews: Ericsson Boasts IT Services Progress.)

Telefónica Digital has developed Smart M2M, an online platform for the management of machine-to-machine traffic that will be marketed to international as well as in-country customers. Smart M2M is already up and running in Spain and Brazil, with Chile, Argentina and Czech Republic next in line for launch. M2M is one of a number of emerging market opportunities being targeted by Telefónica Digital, which believes it can generate annual revenues of up to €800 million ($983 million) from the M2M market by 2015. (See Telefónica: Digital Dreamer? and Telefónica Bangs Its Digital Drum.)

European telcos should be turning their attention to the healthcare industry as the cloud opens up fresh possibilities in the sector, according to a new report from Pyramid Research. "Telcos are well-positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for healthcare cloud services because they can offer the most comprehensive solutions, complementing cloud services with other ICT products such as medical monitoring or mobile health applications," says Pyramid's Dr. Ewa Romaniuk-Calkowska.

Service Provider Information Technology (SPIT) giant Comverse is cutting about 120 staff (about 3 percent of its headcount), including about 30 positions in Israel, according to this Globes report.

Starting in February, Telefónica Deutschland GmbH's mobile customers will be able to transfer money to each other using their smartphones and make purchases using a smartphone digital wallet. For more, read this blog.

The U.K. has a new MVNO in the shape of Phones 4u Ltd., one of the country's major phone retailers with 680 stores at the last count. It has tapped into the 3G network of Everything Everywhere Ltd. (EE) for the launch of its Life Mobile service, which is set to launch in March. It also plans to roll out 4G services later in the year.— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading