Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Ofcom bans locked handsets; Hyperoptic takes part in smart-home pilot; Telesign goes public.

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

December 17, 2021

2 Min Read
Eurobites: Tele2 ready to roll 5G in Latvia

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Ofcom bans locked handsets; Hyperoptic takes part in smart-home pilot; Telesign goes public.

  • Tele2 says it now has everything in place to begin a nationwide rollout of 5G and upgrade of 4G in Latvia following its bagging of 2x10MHz in the first part of the country's 700MHz spectrum auction. The operator had previously partnered with Bite to look into the possibility of a shared mobile network and spectrum arrangement in Latvia and Lithuania, but as the partnership was only partially approved by the regulatory authorities, the two companies have decided to end the agreement.

    • From today UK mobile phone companies are banned from selling locked handsets, under new rules laid down by communications regulator Ofcom. The regulator's own research found that more than a third of people who decided against switching networks said having to get a handset unlocked put them off making the move, while almost half of customers who try to unlock their phones run into problems such as long delays or loss of service. The new rules also limit phone and broadband contracts to a maximum of two years.

    • Hyperoptic is taking part in an interesting-sounding pilot scheme, which sees the UK altnet providing a second, low-bandwidth connection to each home on a new social housing development in Wales specifically to support smart-home equipment. By running the applications on a separate line – which cannot be accessed by the tenant – the smart-home service can be managed completely separately by the housing or smart-home technology provider.

    • European Union antitrust authorities are poised to give the green light to Facebook's proposed takeover of Kustomer, the awkwardly named vendor of CRM (customer relationship manager) software, according to anonymous sources cited by Reuters. A final, official decision on the deal is due by January 28.

    • TeleSign, the digital identity specialist that is a subsidiary of Belgium's Proximus, is going public via a merger with North Atlantic Acquisition Corporation (NAAC), a "special-purpose acquisition company" (or blank-check firm, if you prefer). The deal, which is worth $1.3 billion, is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022.

      — Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading

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About the Author(s)

Paul Rainford

Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading

Paul is based on the Isle of Wight, a rocky outcrop off the English coast that is home only to a colony of technology journalists and several thousand puffins.

He has worked as a writer and copy editor since the age of William Caxton, covering the design industry, D-list celebs, tourism and much, much more.

During the noughties Paul took time out from his page proofs and marker pens to run a small hotel with his other half in the wilds of Exmoor. There he developed a range of skills including carrying cooked breakfasts, lying to unwanted guests and stopping leaks with old towels.

Now back, slightly befuddled, in the world of online journalism, Paul is thoroughly engaged with the modern world, regularly firing up his VHS video recorder and accidentally sending text messages to strangers using a chipped Nokia feature phone.

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