Eurobites: Inflation piles pressure on European operators

"You've waited. And seen the parrots. Now it's time to get your hands on Phone (1)." So intoned the marketing aces at Nothing, the new, much-hyped, UK-based hipster on the smartphone block, as they (sort of) launched the device on Tuesday. People will be able to get their mitts on this partly transparent object of desire from July 16, at the "Nothing Kiosk" in London's Covent Garden, though in time a number of operators, including O2 in the UK and Deutsche Telekom in Germany, will be offering it within their product lineups. Figure 1: Beautiful plumage: Nothing's Phone (1)
(Source: Deutsche Telekom)

The latest Scorecard from French communications regulator Arcep has concluded that the state of competition in the business market generally "remains unsatisfactory," with very little change in market positions over time, despite some encouraging developments in a few specific market segments.

In other competition news, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched an investigation into suspected collusion between sports broadcasters relating to the purchasing of freelance services. BT and Sky are among those in the dock. In a statement, the CMA said that at this stage it has "reasonable grounds to suspect one or more breaches of competition law."

Sparkle, Telecom Italia's international services unit, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Italian navy aimed at improving the protection of Sparkle's subsea communications infrastructure. The plan is to set up shared operating procedures and, possibly, undertake joint reconnaissance and monitoring activities, among other measures.

CVC Capital Partners has denied submitting a new €7 billion (US$7.04 billion) offer to Telecom Italia for the operator's enterprise service arm. As Reuters reports, the story first surfaced in La Repubblica, an Italian daily newspaper.

The gap between the best and worst providers in the UK broadband, landline and pay-TV sectors is widening, according to the latest survey of complaints from UK communications regulator Ofcom. Standout go-and-stand-in-the-corner turns included Virgin Media, whose pay-TV service attracted 10 complaints per 100,000 customers, which was twice as bad as its nearest rival, BT. Ironically enough, "complaints handling" was cited as the key driver of complaints in Virgin's case. On the broadband/landline front, Shell Energy scooped the not-that-coveted "Most complaints" award.

The phony war between Putin's government and US tech giants rumbles on, with Apple and Zoom the latest to feel the mighty paw of the Russian bear. As Reuters reports, both were fined relatively piddling amounts for allegedly refusing to store the data of Russian citizens on Russian soil.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading