Ericsson has landed a 5G deal with Bahrain's Batelco, which will see the Swedish vendor's 5G New Radio, mobile transport and core being deployed in Batelco's network.

And, closer to home, Ericsson is practicing what it preaches by installing an "intelligent" automation system at its manufacturing facility in Tallinn, Estonia. Manufacturing firm ABB is also involved in the project: It will be supplying its automated robot cell technology for the final assembly of 5G radios.

Also getting industrial is Nokia, which is this week using the Hannover Messe trade show to showcase the latest version of its "Factory in a Box" offering. The proof of concept incorporates additive manufacturing (think 3D printing), augmented reality/virtual reality and robotics, all powered by Nokia private 4G/5G networks.

Nokia is also on the radar of German carmaker Daimler, but not in a good way. As Reuters reports, Daimler has lodged a complaint with EU antitrust regulators about how Nokia licenses its patents for technology relating to navigation systems, vehicle-to-vehicle communication and self-driving cars.

UK mobile operators are close to agreeing a deal that could help tackle the problem of poor coverage in rural areas, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph. Under consideration, says the report, is a new "barter system" that would allow an operator to gain access to a rural site owned by a rival as long as that same operator allowed the competition to install signaling equipment on one of its masts.

Still in the UK, a new scheme kicks in today that will force broadband and landline providers to compensate customers when they experience service delays, without the customers having to do the chasing. The details of the scheme, which has been introduced by regulator Ofcom and signed up to so far by BT, Sky, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and Zen Internet, are shown in the graphic below: Figure 1: The Price of Incompetence Source: Ofcom

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading