PARIS (Reuters) – Telecom equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent will focus on its high-growth fixed and mobile products and slim down via 1 billion euro in cost cuts by 2015 in a bid to reverse years of losses.

The new plan unveiled on Wednesday by Michel Combes, the company’s new chief executive, will also include unspecified asset sales of above 1 billion and 2 billion euros in debt re-financing by 2015, followed by a further 2 billion in debt reduction that could include issuing new shares.

PARIS, June 17 (Reuters) – France Telecom’s
executive board agreed on Monday to keep chief executive
Stephane Richard in his job after he was put under investigation
for fraud allegedly committed during his time as a top
government aide.

The board said after an emergency meeting in Paris to decide
his future that it had “full confidence” in Richard to pursue
his leadership of the 27 percent state-owned group, which also
goes by the Orange brand.

PARIS/LONDON (Reuters) – France has its “Sovereign Cloud” project while across the Rhine data firms have created the label “Cloud Services: Made in Germany”, all trying to reassure big companies that their information is stored away from the prying eyes of U.S. spies.

European firms believe revelations that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) has secretly gathered user data from nine big U.S. Internet companies, including Microsoft and Google, will hand them a competitive advantage as they play catch-up with the dominant American players in “cloud computing”.

PARIS/LONDON (Reuters) – France has its “Sovereign Cloud” project while across the Rhine data firms have created the label “Cloud Services: Made in Germany”, all trying to reassure big companies that their information is stored away from the prying eyes of U.S. spies.

European firms believe revelations that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) has secretly gathered user data from nine big U.S. Internet companies, including Microsoft (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and Google (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research), will hand them a competitive advantage as they play catch-up with the dominant American players in “cloud computing”.

PARIS/LONDON (Reuters) – France has its “Sovereign Cloud” project while across the Rhine data firms have created the label “Cloud Services: Made in Germany”, all trying to reassure big companies that their information is stored away from the prying eyes of U.S. spies.

European firms believe revelations that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) has secretly gathered user data from nine big U.S. Internet companies, including Microsoft and Google, will hand them a competitive advantage as they play catch-up with the dominant American players in “cloud computing”.

PARIS (Reuters) – France Telecom (FTE.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) shares jumped on Monday after President Francois Hollande backed its CEO to keep his job despite being put under investigation for fraud during his time as a top government aide.

France Telecom, which is 27 percent owned by the state, climbed 4.2 percent to be the biggest gainer on France’s blue-chip CAC 40 index .FCHI, amid a broader rally in European telecom stocks that were up 2 percent at 5:52 a.m. ET.

PARIS, June 14 (Reuters) – Qatar-backed telecom group
Ooredoo said on Friday that it had withdrawn its bid
for Vivendi’s 53 percent stake in Maroc Telecom.

The move leaves Etisalat as the remaining bidder
for the stake that Vivendi wants to sell as part of a
year-old strategy revamp to exit telcos to focus on media.

PARIS (Reuters) – The future of France Telecom Chief Executive Stephane Richard remained in question on Thursday, after he was put under investigation for conspiracy to commit fraud during his time as a top government aide.

The board of Europe’s fourth-largest telecom group, which is 27 percent owned by the state, is set to meet in coming days to discuss Richard’s fate.

PARIS, June 12 (Reuters) – France Telecom’s chief
executive Stephane Richard was placed under formal investigation
for fraud on Wednesday over his role as a government aide in a
2008 arbitration case that resulted in a large pay-out to
businessman Bernard Tapie.

The decision cast doubt on Richard’s ability to continue as
the head of Europe’s fourth-biggest telecom group by sales.

STRASBOURG, France, June 6 (Reuters) – Bouygues Telecom
plans to offer super-fast 4G mobile services to at
least 40 percent of France’s population within four months, as
the race heats up among operators to build the new networks.

Europe’s big telecom operators are hoping the move to 4G
will help them claw back pricing power after several years of
declining revenue and tough competition.