In Poland, Hawe Telekom and Beyond.pl have joined forces to offer infrastructure and telecom solutions to Polish and international customers. Areas of focus will include IoT, Industry 4.0, 5G campus networks and "smart city" offerings. The pair will draw on their core and edge data centers in Europe to implement what they describe as a unique ecosystem that enables the introduction of innovative services to the market. As part of the collaboration, Hawe Telekom will move its main access node (IP/DWDM) along with an independent fiber-optic connection to Beyond.pl's Data Center 2 in Poznan.

Ericsson is not averse to whipping its crystal ball out from time to time, and it's at it again with the launch of Ericsson Imagine Possible Perspectives, a sort of connectivity manifesto that identifies five key data-driven developments it thinks are likely to significantly affect the way we live and work in a world of 5G and beyond, namely: hybrid learning; digital twins; holographic communication; achieving net zero emissions; and immersive entertainment. The vendor's vision aims to demonstrate to service providers how they might fit in to and benefit from this brave new world of non-stop data gush.

Openreach, the semi-autonomous network access arm of UK incumbent operator BT, has opted for ADVA's edge technology to support its Ethernet services. Openreach's new infrastructure features the ADVA FSP 150-XG100Pro Series, a 10Gbit/s programmable demarcation and aggregation platform.

On the broadband side, Openreach is expanding its fiber presence on the Isle of Wight, the retirement hotspot off the southern coast of England which just happens to be the spiritual home of Eurobites. Around 45,000 more homes on the island will be covered by the rollout, including those in the towns of Ryde, Sandown and Newport.

Another day, another Russian fine for US-based Big Tech. This time it's the turn of Google, which, as the BBC reports, has been slapped by a 21.1 billion rouble ($373 million) penalty for failing – in the eyes of communications regulator Roskomnadzor at least – to restrict access to content about the war in Ukraine that displeased the Kremlin.

The European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association (ETNO) has concluded a two-year research project into how the European telecom workforce can better tackle digital "upskilling," or training, as we used to call it in the old days. The research, carried out in partnership with labor union UNI Europa ICTS, found that things that get in the way of digital upskilling include biases in HR processes and a lack of mentorship programs, among other things.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading