Earlier this week, French regulator ARCEP revealed that it is reporting Microsoft's Luxembourg-based Skype subsidiary to the Paris prosecutor over the company's failure to register as a telecom operator in accordance with the country's law; a move which raises the question of what comprises a telephone company in the age of Internet-based communications.

In a Tuesday statement, French telecoms regulator ARCEP said that the failure on the part of Microsoft's Skype subsidiary to register as a telecom operator will be investigated by prosecutors.

In a nationwide recruitment drive which will be part of British telco BT's £2.5 billion investment in its broadband network, the company will hire over 1,000 engineers at its Openreach network business.

Reporting a highly impressive operational performance on Wednesday, NTH South Africa revealed that it has witnessed a 15.4 percent increase in the number of its total subscribers; with the notable growth chiefly resulting from a 15 percent increase - to 20.9 million - in pre-paid subscriber figures.

On the sidelines of the currently-underway annual session of China's national legislature on Tuesday, Miao Wei - China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology - revealed that the government will begin handing out licences to telecom operators for providing fourth-generation (4G) mobile services this year.

Strongly criticizing the Indian government's recently-announced policy to permit Internet service providers (ISP) with broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum to offer voice services by paying a Rs. 1,658 licensing fee, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has urged the government to rethink its decision.

In a "strategic collaboration" announced by ZTE on Tuesday, the Chinese handset-maker revealed that it will be working with chip giant Intel for developing smartphones powered by the Intel Atom Z2580 processor which was unveiled at the recently-concluded 2013 Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, Spain.

In a partnership which will enable German operator Deutsche Telecom (DT) to expand its network coverage, the company has joined forces with crowdsourced Wi-Fi Hotspot provider Fon for building what it claims will be the biggest Wi-Fi hotspot network in Germany.