Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Nokia opens mobile security center in Berlin; AlcaLu's new EMEA man; KPN cuts jobs in business unit.

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

December 10, 2014

3 Min Read
Eurobites: Ericsson's Radio Dot Goes Live

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Nokia opens mobile security center in Berlin; AlcaLu's new EMEA man; KPN cuts jobs in business unit.

  • Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) and Vodafone Netherlands have announced the first live enterprise deployment of Ericsson's Radio Dot small cells system, at Radboud University in the Netherlands. The system is intended to improve indoor performance for mobile broadband users through the use of an antenna element. It was back in February at Mobile World Congress that Vodafone revealed it had agreed to work with Ericsson on the Radio Dot project. (See Ericsson Dials Up Operator Support for Radio Dot, Ericsson Expects Smooth Sailing for Radio Dot and Ericsson's Radio Dot Receives Mixed Reception.)

    • Nokia Networks has opened the doors of its mobile broadband security center in Berlin, a research lab-cum-demonstration space with its own fully operational LTE test network on site. Recent research from Light Reading's research arm, Heavy Reading, identified security as the single most important issue in networks over the next five years. (See Security Suffers From 'Not My Job' Mentality .)

    • Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) has made a key appointment in the EMEA region, replacing Luis Martinez Amago with Willem Hendrickx as president of its Europe, Middle East and Africa operations, effective January 1, 2015. Hendrickx joins AlcaLu from Riverbed Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: RVBD), where he was senior vice president, EMEA.

    • KPN Telecom NV (NYSE: KPN) is to reduce headcount at its business unit by 580 as part of a cost-cutting program, though it says it will hire an additional 200 employees in its customer unit as it shifts its focus. According to the carrier, many Dutch businesses are "downsizing their operations, postponing their investments and rationalizing their ICT spend."

    • The board of BT Group plc (NYSE: BT; London: BTA) met Tuesday to further chew over its plan to return to the UK mobile market by acquiring either EE or Telefónica UK Ltd. (O2 UK), reports Reuters. According to the report, BT is hoping to have reached a decision on the matter within the next 10 days. (See Eurobites: BT in Talks to Buy O2, Why BT + EE Makes More Sense and Could Li Ka-Shing Crash BT's M&A Party?.)

    • Sky Media, the advertising arm of UK triple-play provider Sky , has launched a tailored advertising service that targets ads according to the postcode they are being viewed in. (Postcodes are the UK equivalent of US zip codes.) More than 50 advertisers are already lined up to use the Sky AdSmart service, says Sky.

    • Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. (Hong Kong: 0013; Pink Sheets: HUWHY) and Skype Ltd. are two of the companies making discreet use of Luxembourg's favorable tax arrangements, according to the latest batch of confidential tax documents seen by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The so-called "Lux Leaks" have heaped trouble on the head of Jean-Claude Juncker, the new president of the European Commission : He introduced many of Luxembourg's controversial tax policies during his time as the country's prime minister.

    • Spain is the latest country to put a bump in the road for Uber, the controversial taxi-hailing app, reports the BBC. A judge has imposed a temporary ban on the service, following a complaint by the Madrid Taxi Association. (See Uber Drives June Mobile VC to $2.3B.)

      — 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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