Alcatel-Lucent today reported a net loss for Q1 2015 amounting to €72 million (US$82 million), flat from a loss of €73 million in the year-ago period.

Group revenues, excluding Managed Services, increased 12 per cent year-on year, with strong growth coming from next-generation products, which were up 25 per cent. At constant exchange rates, group revenues, excluding Managed Services and, were down two per cent while next-generation revenues were up nine per cent.

Gross margin for the period reached 34.6 per cent, expanding 230 bps year-on-year, driven notably by improved profitability across several business lines and a higher-than-usual proportion of software sales in the Access segment.

Adjusted operating income totalled €82 million for the quarter, or 2.5 per cent of revenues, compared to €33 million, or 1.1% of revenues a year earlier. Core Networking operating income was €41 million or 2.8 per cent of revenues, compared to €96 million or 7.1 per cent in the year-ago quarter, primarily reflecting reinvestments to promote future growth, a temporary softer spending environment in North America, and Japan, and variations in product mix. Access operating income was €67 million or 3.8 per cent of revenues, compared to an operating loss of €37 million, or -2.4 per cent of revenues in the year-ago quarter

IHS has been one of the leading independent tower companies in Africa, and the September 2014 move of over 9,000 sites from MTN Nigeria to a company jointly held by IHS and MTN took the company to a whole new level of operation. Mohamad Darwish, IHS Group Executive Committee Member and founding partner, has a hands-on roll in Nigeria as IHS’ deputy CEO there, and talks to Comm. about the opportunities and challenges resulting from the company’s successes across the continent

Darwish says IHS didn’t only come about with co-location solutions, but has long technical experience and expertise in telecom

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Cisco has announced that Chuck Robbins, who joined the company in 1997, will replace John Chambers as CEO on July 26.

Chambers, who has been at the Cisco helm for 20 years, will become executive chairman and act as supervisor to his successor, as well as “engaging closely with customers and governments around the world”. He is to step down from the company in July 2016, the fiscal-year end for the US tech giant.

Reuters reports that the US tech company has been looking for a new CEO for the past 16 months.

Robbins, 49, who was recently senior vice president of worldwide operations, and led the global sales and partners team, was identified among 10 possible candidates for the CEO post as early as 2012, according to Bloomberg.

However, other internal candidates, such as CTO Padmasree Warrior and Rob Lloyd, president of development and sales, were seen by many as perhaps more likely successors.

Robbins said he would spend his first 90 days in the job talking with employees, the leadership team, customers and partners.

A potential buyer for Nokia’s navigation business, Facebook, has struck a deal with the Finnish company to use HERE for some of its mobile mapping, according to Techcrunch.

The social media giant confirmed it is testing HERE in the Android version of standalone apps such as Instagram and Messenger, as well as the mobile web version of Facebook itself. However, the flagship Facebook app does not appear part of the deal.

Facebook is one of a growing list of suitors thought to be sniffing around HERE, which also includes Apple, Samsung, Uber, Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, Yahoo, a consortium of German car manufacturers, and at least one US private equity firm.

Such interest is indicative of HERE’s strategic value and gives weight to those expressing amazement that Nokia is even considering a sale.

For one thing, HERE is attractive to Internet players as a counterweight to Google Maps. It already has partnerships with Amazon, Yahoo, Microsoft and Baidu.

The mapping unit is thought to be worth €2 billion (US$2.23 billion), probably more. Some observers questioned the logic of a sale for a business with demonstrable growth. Net sales for HERE jumped by 25 per cent in Nokia’s most recent quarterly results.

CEO Rajeev Suri confirmed that a strategic review of HERE was underway, including a potential sale, but did say that the ruminations might not necessarily end in disposal.

Zain Bahrain reported revenues of BD 17.63 million (US$46.77 million) in Q115 to end-March, down 4.16 per cent year-on-year, while net profit for the quarter amounted to BD 1.02 million, down 5.1 per cent.

The cellco’s EBITDA margin came in at 39.42 per cent, with EBITDA standing at BD 6.95 million. The company reported that the mobile broadband service customers grew by 23 per cent during Q115, with overall customer growth up one per cent year-on-year to serve 785,000 active customers as of March 31.