News In Brief: Skype, O2, Zain, DB Systel, Alca-Lu

Skype has promised to release a version of Skype for iPhones that supports 3G calling “soon,” because the latest version of Apple's SDK removes restrictions on calling over 3G.

O2 says it doubled iPhone sales to two million units in the past 12 months, despite losing its status as sole supplier in the UK. A two-year exclusive deal with Apple expired in September.
 
Deutsche Bahn subsidiary DB Systel has acquired an IP-based GSM-Railway system from Huawei, which will be used to explore potential network architectures for the standard.
 
Bosses at Middle Eastern carrier Zain have accepted the resignation of CEO Saad al Barrak. Al Barrak quit on Wednesday after seven years with the firm.
 
France Telecom has won the tender to manage the telecom networks of Ethiopian Telecom ahead of Indian operator BSNL, according to The Economic Times
 
Alcatel-Lucent has unveiled a new converged radio module, the MC-TRX, which is based on SDR technology and supports any mix of GSM, WCDMA/HSPA+ and LTE services simultaneously
 
Amazon risks becoming isolated in the e-books market, after a second publisher threw its weight behind Apple’s agency pricing model for iPad content.
 
Lagadere SCA’s Hachette Book Group joins Macmillan as a fan of Apple’s agency model, which pays publishers commission on sales. Amazon initially rejected the structure, leading to a short ban on sales of Macmillan titles.