Russia's Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (MTS) (NYSE: MBT) says it has been compelled to suspend its service in Turkmenistan following unspecified actions by the state-owned Turkmentelekom which resulted in the "disconnection of international and long-distance zonal communication services and Internet access." MTS is currently in negotiations with the Turkmenistan regulatory authorities and state-owned companies to resolve the issue. At the end of the second quarter of 2017, MTS provided services for 1.7 million people in Turkmenistan.

Vonage, the New Jersey-based cloud services company, has opened its new European headquarters, in London's so-called "Silicon Roundabout" district. The 22,000 sq ft office will house Vonage's 200-strong UK team.

VIVA Bahrain , a subsidiary of operator Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) , has tested what is being claimed by deployment partner Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd as the "world's first" ATCA-NFV hybrid cloud core network. The "One Cloud" system sees Huawei's existing cloud platform being overlaid with a cloud IMS and cloud EPC network without live network services being affected, says the vendor.

The Italian government has begun a process that could result in Telecom Italia (TIM) being fined for failing to notify the authorities that French media conglomerate Vivendi had effectively taken control of the operator, Reuters reports. Vivendi's stake in TIM is just 24% but this makes it TIM's biggest single shareholder. (See Vivendi Man Genish Formally Named Telecom Italia CEO and Eurobites: Vivendi Now Controls Telecom Italia, Says Watchdog.)

The European Commission is proposing a set of measures that it hopes will force online platforms to get better at removing "illegal" content. In a statement, the Commission declares that such platforms should work more closely with the relevant national authorities and invest in "automatic detection technologies" to nip the nasty stuff in the bud. The progress or otherwise of online platforms on this matter will be assessed by the Commission over the next few months, after which a decision on possible legislation will be made.

Kenya's Safaricom Ltd. has teamed up with local device brand Oppo to launch a mid-range 4G smartphone, the Oppo A71. Oppo's focus is the camera (see what we did there?), and the new device comes complete with an Ultra HD, 13-megapixel number.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading