TELECOMS

Banks in London, already on high alert for how to deal with a break-up of the euro zone, will on Tuesday be tested to see how they would cope with a cyber attack on their operations.

China and India, the world's biggest mobile phone markets, are building fourth-generation (4G) networks based on the long-term evolution (LTE) technology.

Mobile technologies will be increasingly deployed to enable people in Asia to monitor and manage their health, with the market expected to hit $7 billion by 2017, an industry official said.

Vodafone India, buffeted by brutal competition and regulatory woes, expects a shakeout within two years.

Nokia plans to undercut its Windows Phone rivals to give its new smartphones a foothold in the market before trying to improve margins, its Chief Executive Stephen Elop said on Wednesday.

Canada's communications regulator handed a partial victory on Tuesday to big Internet service providers by allowing them to charge lease fees based on the amount of capacity small providers use.

Telecoms and entertainment group Vivendi said on Wednesday it had yet to see an impact from the current economic gloom on its business as it posted higher 9-months profits, driven by fast-growing demand in Brazil and in its video games business.

Any social networking business grows on its user base and Facebook, the world's largest social networking site, is no exception.

The tragedy of India is its political system. This admission by a minister captured the frustration of delegates at this week's India's World Economic Forum.

Debt-laden mobile phone carrier Reliance Communications posted its ninth straight drop in quarterly profit.

Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica (TEF.MC) stuck doggedly to ambitious shareholder return targets on Friday even while 9-month profit fell a more-than-expected 69 percent in what the group described as a challenging operating environment.

Japan's Olympus Corp risks collapsing under a massive accounting scandal, but the company's big and profitable medical business is likely to emerge from any wreckage unharmed.

Nigeria plans to change the base year for its gross domestic product (GDP) to 2008 from 1990, a move that could lead to a huge jump in the estimated size of Africa's second biggest economy, the national statistics chief said on Thursday.

Ericsson, the world's top mobile network gear maker, cautioned that new lower-margin business would hit profitability in the fourth quarter and the global slowdown could mean its customers spend less.

Nairobi Securities Exchange has launched two stock indexes in conjunction with FTSE Group, and said on Tuesday it planned to start one for Treasury bonds next year.

Vodafone (VOD.L:Quote) lifted its full-year profit outlook on Tuesday as strong growth in emerging markets and robust trading in northern Europe more than offset weakness on the southern fringes of the euro zone.

The moves are the latest sign Best Buy is scaling back its overseas ambitions to focus on its main U.S. business, which faces stiff competition from discounters and online retailers. Earlier this year, the U.S. group dropped plans for Best Buy-branded stores in China and Turkey.

The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to Ramalinga Raju, founder and former chairman of outsourcing firm Satyam Computer Services Ltd, in a $1.5 billion financial fraud case.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Thursday proposed a relaxation of guidelines for mergers and acquisitions in the telecom sector

South Africa's Allied Technologies Ltd is in talks to pay up to $60 million for unlisted Kenyan IT firm Symphony, according to a person familiar with the matter, to help revive its struggling business in fast-growing east Africa.

Hutchison 3G, the mobile phone operator of Hutchison Whampoa, is in talks to buy the Austrian assets of France Telecom's Orange, a banking source said on Tuesday, as part of its efforts to expand its footprint overseas.