Ericsson is to invest an unspecified amount in its plant in Tczew, Poland to help it prepare for wider 5G rollout across Europe, Reuters reports. The vendor said that the Tczew site would be fully operational for the European market by the first quarter of 2020.

Italy's Sparkle has established a 5G data roaming connection between Telecom Italia (TIM) and Etisalat, the UAE-based operator, allowing both TIM and Etisalat mobile customers to access 5G services while traveling abroad.

Tele2's current EVP for international markets, Guillaume van Gaver, is to leave the Swedish operator on September 15. The move is being presented as fallout from Tele2's merger activity in the Netherlands, its exit from Kazakhstan and the divestment of its Croatian business. According to a Tele2 statement, van Gaver, who has been with the operator since 2016, will pursue a "continued international career outside of the company."

Despite some authorities on the subject describing it as a "Chinese hoax," global warming does seem to be wreaking havoc on the world. One of its many and varied effects is to bring ever-larger blooms of poisonous blue-green algae to the Baltic Sea. Not good. Now Telia has teamed up with Nokia, Nordkapp, Finnish Environment Institute SYKE and Vaisala to trial the use of 5G connectivity in the monitoring of the algae situation. A camera and sensor-equipped drone was flown over the Baltic, and the high-resolution video was transmitted over 5G for real-time analysis, incorporating a range of data including satellite imagery and automated chlorophyll measurements from ferries sailing in the area. See the video below for the full story…

Mobile calls may generally rule the roost these days, but London's still running out of landline numbers. Blame fixed-line broadband. But it's alright, telco regulator Ofcom is going to create 10 million new ones later this year. Welcome, people, to the brave new world of the "(020) 4" prefix. Here's a pleasing graphic showing the dialing changes that have been wrought on the UK capital over the years… Figure 1: More numbers than an episode of Sesame Street.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading