Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Portugal's MEO opts for Allot security; Vodafone pulls out of Libra digital currency project; robots in Davos.

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

January 22, 2020

3 Min Read
Eurobites: Deutsche Telekom Piggybacks Glasfaser's Fiber in Germany

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Portugal's MEO opts for Allot security; Vodafone pulls out of Libra digital currency project; robots in Davos.

  • Deutsche Telekom is to use Deutsche Glasfaser's fiber network in the Germany city of Lüdinghausen in a pilot FTTH project that represents a first for both companies. Deutsche Glasfaser has laid more than 9,000 fiber-optic lines in Lüdinghausen, reaching both private households and business parks.

    • Portugal's MEO, part of the Altice empire, is deploying Allot's security-as-a-service (SECaaS) system as part of its efforts to protect its mobile customers from cybersecurity threats such as malware, phishing, ransomware and crypto-mining, as well as enable parental control applications. The solution being deployed by MEO integrates network and endpoint security tools in the form of Allot's NetworkSecure platform as well as the vendor's EndpointSecure tool. MEO's mobile customers can subscribe to the service with a monthly fee, which is then shared by the operator and vendor. This is the second such deal for Allot this year: The vendor previously announced a revenue-sharing SECaaS deal with an unnamed Tier 1 operator with multiple business units in central and eastern Europe. Allot is on course to report double-digit revenue growth for 2019, with full-year sales in the $106-$110 million range.

    • Vodafone has pulled out of Libra, Facebook's flagging digital currency project. As the BBC reports, Vodafone isn't the first big name to have withdrawn from the project -- Paypay and eBay have are among those having also left the building.

    • Over in Davos, masters of the universe in warm coats are continuing to talk shop at the World Economic Forum. As part of the festivities, Ericsson has teamed up with Swisscom and ABB for a demonstration of what 5G can do. Climate-change poster girl Greta Thunberg will don a haptic glove, with which she will punch Donald Trump in the face repeatedly, the pummeling being livestreamed in 8K at a cheese shop in Zurich. OK, we made that bit up: It's actually a demonstration of what 5G can do for human-robotics collaboration. Hey, we can dream, can't we?

    • Still in Switzerland, digital security group Kudelski has announced a patent license agreement with fuboTV, a US-based over-the-top TV service. Financial details were not disclosed.

    • Iliad, which is based in France but also has a presence in Italy, is trying to have a 5G network-sharing agreement between Italian rivals Fastweb and Wind Tre annulled, Reuters reports. A first hearing is due to be held on February 12, which will decide whether Iliad should be granted access to the network-sharing contract documentation.

    • Sparkle, the international services arm of Telecom Italia (TIM), has begun construction of its fourth data center in Greece. The facility, once complete, will offer around 6,000 square meters of colocation space and high levels of energy efficiency.

    • The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has told the UK government to hold fire on a new tax on (mainly US-based) tech giants that was due to kick in as from April. As the BBC reports, the OECD argued that individual countries doing their own thing on the digital taxation front would lead to chaos, and that it was better to agree a global consensus on the issue first. France has already put on hold its plan for a similar tax after it received an angry response from the Trump administration threatening to place new tariffs on signature French exports such as champagne and cheese.

    • Amazon Web Services (AWS) is to provide new stats wizardry to the rugby union's Six Nations championship. Rugby nuts will be able to enjoy, among other oval-ball nonsense, the "kick predictor," which employs machine-learning technology to show the probability of a kicker successfully scoring a penalty kick.

      — 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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