Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: linear TV viewing declines in Europe; Italian bank hacked; Irish VoIP deal signed.

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

July 26, 2017

2 Min Read
Eurobites: Telefónica Appoints New COO

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: linear TV viewing declines in Europe; Italian bank hacked; Irish VoIP deal signed.

  • Ángel Vilá is to be appointed as Telefónica 's new chief operating officer as part of a company restructuring initiated by José María Álvarez-Pallete, the operator's executive chairman. Telefónica's five discrete operating businesses -- in Spain, Brazil, Latin America, Germany and the UK -- will report directly to Vilá under the new regime. Vilá currently serves as chief strategy and finance officer.

    • "Linear" (i.e. not catch-up or on-demand) TV viewing continues to decline in Europe, according to new research from IHS Markit. Its Cross-Platform Television Viewing Time 2016 report found that linear viewing time in the "big five" countries of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK shrunk as on-demand platforms made their presence felt. Interestingly, though, time spent on linear TV viewing in Italy far exceeded that of the other "big five" countries. Total TV revenue across the five big European markets declined slightly in 2016, to €58.0 billion (US$67.5 billion), while online video racked up €5 billion ($5.8 billion), a 32% increase on 2015.

    • Italian bank UniCredit has admitted that it has been the victim of two major cyber attacks in the past ten months that have compromised the bank details of around 400,000 of its customers, Reuters reports. The attacks were apparently carried out via an external commercial partner of UniCredit, a partner the bank declined to name.

    • In Ireland, Dublin-based VoIP specialist IP Telecom has signed a wholesale deal with Cork's Goldstar Telecom, the Irish Times reports. The €500,000 deal means that Goldstar's customers, which include midsized businesses, hotels and hospitals, will see their phone systems operate through the cloud.

      — 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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