Telecom Italia sells voice technology arm

Telecom Italia announced on Saturday the sale of its voice technology arm Loquendo to US speech recognition company Nuance Communications Inc for 53 million euros ($76 million). The sale of Loquendo, a 100-employee spin-off from the Italian giant's research labs, is part of "a shift of focus toward its core business," the company said in a statement. Nuance is committed to keeping the company's headquarters in Turin, and creating "a global centre of excellence in voice technology R&D," Telecom Italia assured. Nuance, in its literature, says it is "perfecting the ability for machines to recognize and emulate the human voice".