Huawei has introduced a business initiative designed to explore the application scenarios for SDN in carrier networks, to help operators better understand the technology’s commercial value.

Fujitsu announced the release of two new models in the enterprise line of ESPRIMO desktop PCs which come equipped with the latest 4th-Generation Intel(R) Core(TM) high performance processors, as well as a new 1U rack-mount model in the CELSIUS workstation series. The new models will be available in Japan from today.

President Enrique Peña Nieto has put his signature to a new law designed to overhaul Mexico’s telecoms and broadcast sectors by boosting competition and curbing market power exerted by dominant players such as Carlos Slim’s America Movil.
A new regulatory body, Ifetel, is in charge of granting and revoking telecoms and media concessions.

Ukraine 3G licence holder and fixed-line monopoly Ukrtelecom is to come under the control of a company controlled by Rinat Akhmetov, the country’s richest man.

SCM Group’s acquisition of a 92.79 per cent stake in Ukrtelecom from Austrian investment group EPIC adds to Akhmetov’s telecoms business, which already includes a minority stake in Ukraine number-three operator Life, which is co-owned by Turkcell.

Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC is set to part company with its COO, the latest in a number of high-profile departures at the company, according to Bloomberg.

Matthew Costello will step-down after less than three years at HTC, but will remain as an “executive advisor” after a move to Europe. His role will be taken on by Fred Liu, president of engineering and operations, who will be responsible for “operations, quality, sales operations and services”.

The European Commission (EC) has decided to refer Estonia to the EU’s Court of Justice because its law does not guarantee the impartiality of the national telecoms regulator.

According to EU telecoms rules, national authorities exercising regulatory tasks cannot be involved in the ownership or control of telecoms companies.

Competition in Romania’s satellite TV market has gone up a further gear with the launch of a new platform, distributed by Eutelsat from the 16 degrees East neighbourhood.

The platform is named after its operator Freesat, a company based in the city of Oradea, and claims to offer the cheapest deal for viewers in the DTH sector, with an annual subscription of RON99 (€22.8) and a one-off investment in a Viaccess smartcard providing them with Romania’s most popular public and private TV channels.

Microsoft Gulf has announced an expansion of its Software Donation Program in the United Arab Emirates made possible in collaboration with the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department (IACAD).

ANOTHER $750 million (N119 billion) telecommunications infrastructure upgrade and expansion deal has been sealed between Nigeria’s Globacom and Chinese telecoms infrastructure provider—Huawei.

Engineers at St Andrews in Scotland and the Max Planck Institute for Informatics in Germany have collaborated on a virtual app for the Android OS that abandons the Qwerty convention and is designed to make thumb typing faster, the BBC website reported.