EE, the UK mobile operator owned by BT, has teamed up with the Scottish government to bring 4G to some of Scotland's most remote locations for the first time. Strathconon, Blairmore and Reawick, way up in Scotland's dreich north, have already been connected, with a further 32 locations to follow. These sites, some of which will provide potentially life-saving connectivity for mountain rescue teams, form part of the £25 million (US$33 million) Scottish 4G Infill program (S4GI).

Ekinops, the France-based optical transport company, has teamed up with analytics outfit LiveAction to offer service providers network performance analytics and "value-added services" through a combined routing product. Belgium's Proximus is already a user of the combined effort on its "Explore" MPLS service.

Sequans Communications has introduced an LTE IoT module which it says offers device makers a "quick and easy" way to connecting their IoT devices to the Orange LTE-M network. The Monarch GMS01Q module is based on Sequans' Monarch LTE-M/NB-IoT chip platform and includes an LTE-optimized transceiver and Sequans' Single-SKU technology to support LTE bands worldwide for universal roaming.

Colt Technology Services is extending its collaboration with Equinix, introducing connectivity to Equinix Fabric, which will allow enterprises to connect in near real time to their own premises – through the Colt IQ Network footprint of 29,000 on-net buildings – from the Equinix platform.

Telia's cloud-based ACE customer care platform has been chosen by Nordic insurance company Gjensidige for its customer services operations in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The five-year agreement includes Telia providing professional services to support Gjensidige in developing the customer service offering over time.

Perth & Kinross Council in Scotland has chosen SSE Enterprise Telecoms to construct a 19km fiber network to help boost economic activity in the region. Educational institutions, council buildings, leisure centers, care homes and residential homes will all benefit from the project, which will build on SSE's established regional network infrastructure using 5.4km of physical infrastructure access (PIA) ducts as well as 3.9km of existing Perth & Kinross Council assets.

Glasgow-based Vector Photonics has become the 645th company to join the European Photonics Industry Consortium (EPIC). EPIC'S membership spans several industry sectors, including fiber optics and optical components. Earlier this week Vector announced the development of its PCSEL-based, 1310nm/25G chip, which is specifically targeted at data centers.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading