The firm's new partner, a former Supreme Court lawyer and Director General of Town Planning and Development in the Andalucian Government, will head the Public Law Area in the Seville office.

Luis Murillo Jaso, as a partner in the Zaragoza office, will head the firm's team of specialists in the audiovisual sector.

Joan Hortal, state finance inspector, will direct a general taxation team in Barcelona

ECTA urges clarity from BNetzA on higher-speed network Regulation

Momentum in growth of German broadband services is dependent on open markets.

Brussels, 1 February 2007 - ECTA's Broadband Scorecard for Q3 2006, released today, shows that Germany was a rare bright spot in a report which highlighted a significant slow down in Broadband uptake across Europe, falling from 23% to only 14% growth in the half year period before September 2006. The rapid growth in the take-up of broadband services in Germany coincides with altnets taking an increasing market share, reducing Deutsche Telekom's share in broadband services to below 50% Germany for the first time.

Cuatrecasas, Olivencia-Ballester celebrates in Seville its new phase in Adaulsia

Cuatrecasas, Olivencia-Ballester will offer the Andalusian business world a comprehensive legal service, giving it the opportunity to compete in national and international markets.

7 February 2007. The law firm Cuatrecasas, Olivencia-Ballester made its recent merger official in a ceremony held at the Hotel Alfonso XIII in Seville. Numerous personalities from business, institutional and legal circles in Seville and Andalusia attended the event.

Xavier Melero and Luis Perez de Ayala are appointed equity partners

The Cuatrecasas Partners Assembly decided, in its meeting held on Friday, December 15, to open new offices in China and Morocco. The new offices, lo-cated in Shanghai and Casablanca, will begin to operate in the first quarter of 2007 and will form part of the firm's network of international offices.

December 13, 2006 - Telecom New Zealand has partnered with Yahoo!7 to form a joint venture, which will be called Yahoo! Xtra, and will provide an enhanced suite of online content and application services for New Zealanders.

Telecom Chief Executive Theresa Gattung said that Yahoo! is recognised as a global leader in online services and Xtra is the online market leader in New Zealand. 
The Yahoo! Xtra joint venture will provide New Zealanders with access to the world's best online services in a localised way, Ms Gattung said.

Announcement of ECTA Board Election 6 December 2006

At the Association's Annual General Meeting held in London on 6 December 2006, the following were elected to the Board of Directors to serve two year terms commencing from 1 January 2007 (in alphabetical order by surname):

• Richard Lalande, AFORS Telecom
• Fabio Macaluso, Fastweb SpA
• Raffaele Mosca, WIND
• Hubertus von Roenne, BT Global Services
• Craig Silliman, Verizon Business

The 16th Plenary Meeting of the EIDQ Association took place on 23-25 October 2006 in Stockholm, Sweden, kindly hosted by Eniro 118 118 AB.

During the meeting, Members gave their approval to new Articles which herald an evolutionary change to the scope and purpose of the Association. Changes were necessary to keep pace with the Industry and meet the needs of the membership which has grown by 60% in 3 years.

TELECOMS PROVIDERS URGE COMMISSIONER REDING TO ADOPT FUNCTIONAL SEPARATION

Brussels, 16 November 2006 - The European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA) today, at its annual Regulatory Conference, called for the Commission to adopt functional separation as a cornerstone of the Review of the Communications Framework. CEOs from ECTA's leading member companies met with Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Information Society and Media and a keynote speaker at ECTA's Regulatory Conference, to outline the pro-competition organisation's position on this and other critical issues. 

Singapore  October 25, 2006 - VSNL International announced today that it is the first global Ethernet service provider to achieve Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) certification. The Iometrix test laboratory certified VSNL International's Dedicated Global Ethernet Service to be internationally compliant to the MEF 9 specification of the MEF, the pre-eminent industry organization dedicated to facilitating the adoption of Carrier Ethernet Services.

VSNL International's Dedicated Global Ethernet service was tested by Iometrix between New York, London, Tokyo and Mumbai and was certified as compliant to the MEF 9 certification after successful performance against 244 test cases.