The European Union authorities are poised to give their approval to Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Korea: SEC)'s offer to settle a patents-related antitrust investigation, according to a Bloomberg report. Samsung has pledged to stop seeking injunctions in Europe in its many and varied disputes with rivals over alleged infringements of patents. (See Euronews: EC Probes Samsung on Patents.)

A study by UK regulator Ofcom has concluded that British consumers are getting their communications needs serviced for less than it costs in other major European countries and the US. Communications services -- including landlines, mobile services, broadband, and pay TV -- represented 2.3% of overall living costs in the UK, compared with 2.5% in France, Italy, and the US, 3.2% in Spain and 3.4% in Germany. The UK is also streets ahead when it comes to online shopping, spending £1,175 (US$1,928) per head in 2012, which is £307 ($503) higher than Australia, the second-placed country in the sample covered. It seems the Brits trust online retailers more than others do. The fools.

Zayo Group Inc. (NYSE: ZAYO) has landed a deal with SSE Telecoms , the network infrastructure and datacenter arm of utility services giant SSE. Zayo will provision the dark fiber backhaul network, which will connect 21 BT Group plc (NYSE: BT; London: BTA) phone and Ethernet exchange points in London, as well as another exchange serving the Slough area just west of London. SSE plans to extend its network coverage to all major business districts across the UK. (See SSE Lights Up Extra UK Capacity.)

Telenor Group (Nasdaq: TELN), the Norway-based operator that has subsidiaries in Russia, Eurasia, and elsewhere, has launched an LTE roaming exchange service for all the companies that form part of the Telenor group. The service is based on the Diameter signaling protocol.

T-Systems International GmbH , Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT)'s IT services subsidiary, has joined Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT)'s Cloud OS Network in a bid to offer secure hybrid cloud services in Germany and the rest of the European market. In the wake of the Prism controversy, data privacy has become a major issue for Deutsche Telekom and others. (See Euronews: Deutsche Telekom Shuns US Servers.)

It was something of a black Wednesday for Imagination Technologies Group plc , the UK firm that designs graphics chips for the iPhone, reports The Guardian, as shares in the company lost almost a quarter of their value following disappointing half-yearly results. Pre-tax profits fell to £2.2 million ($3.6 million) from £10.5 million ($17.2 million) a year earlier.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading