Cable&Wireless Europe, Asia and US won a three year, multi-million Euro contract to provide a global communications infrastructure for Zegna, the luxury men's clothing company.
Cable&Wireless is migrating all of Zegna's retail branches on to its global IP VPN to gives Zegna a centralised view of all its business-critical retail applications including real-time stock and accounts information on which promotions, for instance, can be based at short notice.
The Ermenegildo Zegna Group is the world leader in luxury men's clothing, it employs more than 7,000 staff worldwide and had a turnover of €843,4 million in 2007. The Group has 547 points of sale in 93 countries.
Turk Telekom's subsidiary Avea will overtake Vodafone in Turkey's cut-throat mobile market in the next year, Avea's CEO Paul Doany was reported saying in the Financial Times as the fixed-line incumbent met expectations with a 31% fall in full-year net profit.
Vodafone's Turkish operation, which it bought for $4.6bn in 2005, was among its worst-performing businesses last quarter, plagued with problems linked to its mobile network and sales outlets.
Oger Telecom, the Middle Eastern group that paid $6.5 billion in the same year for its 55% stake in Turk Telekom, appears to be making more headway against the dominant mobile operator Turkcell, the FT said.
Colt Telecom has hinted that it will make acquisitions after announcing plans for a £178.3m equity market offering to recapitalise the group, according to the Financial Times.
The telecommunications group will pay its €262.8 million of bonds due at the end of the year out of its existing cash pile of €273.6m, but plans to raise a further €201 million via an open offer.
The fundraising will be Colt's seventh in the past 13 years, raising a total of €3.8bn, and will be used to strengthen its balance sheet and secure its working capital position.
Ryanair gave launched in-flight mobile phone service that will be rolled out across its fleet, the FT reported.
Several other European airlines, including Air France-KLM, TAP Air Portugal and BMI British Midland, have conducted trials on single aircraft, but the Irish carrier has become the first to start equipping its entire fleet, totalling more than 170 aircraft.
The first 50 aircraft will be fitted within six months on a trial basis, but Ryanair's CEO Michael O'Leary said he was confident it would then be extended to the rest of the fleet. The airline currently flies about 58 million passengers a year.
The service is being provided by OnAir, a company 67% owned by Sita, the aviation communications group, and 30% by Airbus, the European aircraft maker.
Azlan it is extending its European Configuration Centre capability to reseller partners throughout the continent.
Located at Tech Data Europe's state-of-the-art warehousing and logistics facility at Magna Park UK, Azlan's Configuration Centre already provides advanced pre-shipment configuration and testing services for selected vendor partners.