Shares in satellite broadcaster Sky fell 8.7 percent Monday morning following the news that it had been outbid by BT Group plc (NYSE: BT; London: BTA) for exclusive rights to broadcast live Champions League and Europa League soccer matches for three seasons from 2015. BT, which is banking on premium sports content to boost uptake of its broadband TV offer, splashed out nearly €1.08 billion (US$1.44 billion) for the rights. (See BT Pays €1B+ for Euro Soccer Rights , Confirmed: BT's Got Euroballs, and BT's Got Balls.)

Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT) has made a significant acquisition, taking control of GTS Central Europe for €546 million ($731 million) in a move that will be important for its mobile and enterprise services businesses and also strengthen its software-defined networking (SDN) efforts. In 2012, the GTS operations that Deutsche Telekom is buying generated revenues of €347 million ($464 million). (See Deutsche Telekom to Buy GTS CE, DT Boosts Datacenter, SDN Strategy With Acquisition, and Deutsche Telekom: A Software-Defined Operator.)

Swisscom AG (NYSE: SCM) is seeking to capitalize on its fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) rollout, and stick to the promises it made in September, by offering a 1Gbit/s broadband service for 100 Swiss francs ($108.66) per month and a 300Mbit/s service for just CHF20 ($21.73). (See Swisscom Launches 1G Broadband and Euronews: Swisscom Unveils 1Gig Plan .)

A new MVNO is entering the fray in Austria, taking advantage of the cheap wholesale access that Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. (Hong Kong: 0013; Pink Sheets: HUWHY) was forced to make available as a condition of its takeover of Orange Austria, reports Reuters. The new entrant, Mass Response, is a former unit of Telekom Austria AG (NYSE: TKA; Vienna: TKA). (See Li Ka-shing in the Hunt for EU Telcos.)

The latest Ericsson Mobility Report predicts that mobile subscriptions will reach 9.3 billion worldwide by 2019, 5.6 billion of which will be for smartphones. Around 65 percent of the world's population will be covered by LTE by that time, Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) reckons.

Good news for go-ahead sheep farmers and lost ramblers: UK mobile joint venture EE has switched on a 24 Mbit/s (on average) 4G broadband service in a remote corner of the northern English county of Cumbria. The network covers more than 100 square miles, from Wigton in the north to Threlkeld in the south. (See Q&A: EE Evolves Its 4G LTE Strategy.)

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading