Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: T-Systems manages the cloud; Virgin targets remote workers; Nokia takes Gfast to Japan.

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

November 27, 2017

2 Min Read
Eurobites: Telefónica Tries RAN Slicing in Spain With Netsia

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: T-Systems manages the cloud; Virgin targets remote workers; Nokia takes Gfast to Japan.

  • Telefónica has teamed up with Netsia, a Californian startup, on virtualizing the radio access network (RAN) in order to demonstration RAN "slicing." Netsia's virtual LTE RAN platform was integrated into the Spanish giant's Global Network Labs in Madrid, reproducing a private LTE network that can be sub-divided into multiple slices that can offer different levels of performance and latency to different sets of customers. (See How 5G Could Digitally Divide in a Post Net Neutrality World.)

    • T-Systems International GmbH , the enterprise services arm of Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT), has introduced its Managed Cloud Operating System (MCOS), to help companies get to grips with all the applications and data that they have spread across various different clouds. MCOS, says T-Systems, standardizes the management of cloud environments independently of the technology employed by the respective cloud providers.

    • Virgin Media Business Ltd. has made a play for the remote working market with the planned launch of its Business Anywhere service, which allows remote workers to securely access their corporate network from any connected, SIM-enabled mobile device. Virgin says the new system replaces "manual" user authentication with automatic SIM card authentication. The service will use the mobile network of EE , which is now part of the BT Group plc (NYSE: BT; London: BTA).

    • Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK)'s Gfast technology is to be put through its paces in Japan, courtesy of cable operator EneCom. Once the technology is deployed, says the vendor, Gfast will enable EneCom to launch high-bandwidth services such as 8K TV and help prepare the ground for the deployment of XG-FAST, which can deliver speeds of up to 10 Gbit/s. Japan currently uses a unique variant of VDSL, and Nokia claims to be the only vendor providing interoperability between Gfast equipment and this particular strain of the technology.

    • BT has been accused of making excessive profits on what's left of its network of payphones in the UK, the Daily Telegraph reports. A study commissioned by Vodafone concluded that BT's 47,000 remaining payphones generated earnings of £14.5 million (US$19.3 million) on revenues of around £36 million ($48 million). Vodafone, of course, has an agenda here: It is calling for regulators to clamp down on payphone access charges, which represent a levy paid to BT by providers of 0800 numbers for calls to those numbers from payphones, supposedly to help fund the maintenance of the payphone kiosks. BT, meanwhile, dismisses the claims as "nonsense."

      — 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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