Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Telia gets industrial with 5G in Oulu; Ovum and Three UK sing praises of 5G fixed wireless; Sky clinches second-tier soccer deal, but some clubs aren't happy.

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

November 20, 2018

3 Min Read
Eurobites: Orange Targets SMEs With XGS-PON in Poland

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Telia gets industrial with 5G in Oulu; Ovum and Three UK sing praises of 5G fixed wireless; Sky clinches second-tier soccer deal, but some clubs aren't happy.

  • Orange Polska has begun piloting an XGS-PON-based asymmetric fiber-optic line with a downlink speed of up to 5 Gbit/s and an uplink of up to 2 Gbit/s. The service is being aimed at small and midsized companies who use cloud computing, transfer large amounts of data or host websites on their own servers. The pilot, which is restricted to companies based in Warsaw, lasts for six months, and costs 299 Polish Zloty (US$79) plus VAT a month.

    • Telia is to switch on a 5G network in the Finnish city of Oulu, with the intention of giving the industrial zone of Oritkari-Nuottasaari the chance to develop new digital operating models and innovations. It is also anticipated that 5G could transform logistics in the area, through the use of real-time monitoring and autonomous or remote-controlled vehicles. Telia secured 130MHz frequencies in the 3.5GHz band in Finland's 5G spectrum auction, and has committed to launching commercial 5G operations there in early 2019. (See Eurobites: Telia Fires Up 5G in Helsinki.)

    • Berlin-based European Advanced Networking Test Center AG (EANTC) is joining the roster of independent test labs that will play a vital role in the Broadband Forum's CloudCO (Cloud Central Office) initiative. (See EANTC Joins Broadband Forum's Approved Lab List for CloudCO Tests.)

    • Forget fiber-to-the-home: The future of superfast broadband in the UK is all about 5G-based fixed wireless access. So says market research firm Ovum Ltd. , in a report commissioned by UK mobile operator Three UK , which, funnily enough, is planning to launch a 5G wireless home broadband service in the second half of 2019. According to the report, the technology is expected to deliver speeds of 80-100 Mbit/s, which is on average around double what customers in the UK currently obtain using traditional, fixed-broadband services. At this week's Huawei Mobile Broadband Forum in London, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd and Three UK are showcasing a 5G home broadband demonstration using Three's 100MHz C-Band spectrum in combination with the Chinese vendor's latest home broadband routers.

    • The English Football League, which negotiates on behalf of the second tier of English soccer, has signed a multi-year deal with Sky worth £595 million ($765 million). But, as the BBC reports, the deal hasn't gone down well with a number of the bigger clubs, Leeds United and Aston Villa among them, who feel that they deserve a larger slice of the overall soccer revenue pie -- even though the deal represents a 35% increase on the previous contract. The matter is no doubt complicated by the fact that, as the Telegraph reports, Leeds United is owned by Andrea Radrizzani, who also owns Eleven Sports, an ambitious OTT sports streaming service that has already bought the UK rights to Spain's La Liga. Figure 1: Leeds United, in happier times. Leeds United, in happier times.

    • Internet peering service provider France-IX Services has welcomed three new sellers to its marketplace: Experio, a managed Internet network provider; Hopus, a partial transit service provider; and telecom carrier Net1C. The inclusion of Net1C means that voice services will be offered for the first time in the marketplace.

      — Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading

Read more about:

Europe

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.

Subscribe and receive the latest news from the industry.
Join 62,000+ members. Yes it's completely free.

You May Also Like