Everything Everywhere says CEO Tom Alexander is resigning "for personal reasons and to pursue other interests". He'll step down on 31st August 2011 and will be replaced by non-executive director Olaf Swantee, who's currently France Telecom’s Executive Vice President of Operations in Europe.

Mr Alexander will continue to advise the company until the end of the year.

Earlier this year we reported that Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom-Orange had agreed to work together on machine-to-machine communication in a number of countries. The agreement currently covers France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the UK.

TeliaSonera has now joined the M2M Service Cooperation Agreement between the two companies, adding Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Estonia and Lithuania to the list of countries.

Mark Bridge writes:

Recycling an unwanted mobile phone makes sense. It's good for the environment and it generates cash as well.

Newer phones recycled in Western Europe are likely to be reconditioned and resold locally, while older models may be reconditioned for use in developing countries. Damaged phones are either used for spares or are broken down for the metals and minerals in their components.

But what happens when people in those developing countries need to recycle their phones?

Mark Bridge writes:

It’s Easter, but that’s not stopped the mobile phone industry from generating plenty of news stories.

Let’s start with partnerships. Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom - which already work together as Everything Everywhere in the UK – have now agreed to combine their procurement activities for customer equipment, network equipment, service platforms and IT infrastructure. Yes, even these two telecoms giants can save money with group buying!

Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom - which already work in partnership as Everything Everywhere and recently announced plans to cooperate in other business areas - are now going shopping together.

They've agreed to combine their procurement activities for customer equipment, network equipment, service platforms and IT Infrastructure.