Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: EE to introduce WiFi calling service, trial VoLTE; HD video streaming with NFV; M2M's killer app!

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

June 20, 2014

3 Min Read
Eurobites: Major Cuts Ahead for Deutsche Telekom?

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: EE to introduce WiFi calling service, trial VoLTE; HD video streaming with NFV; M2M's killer app!

  • Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT) is planning to cut €3 billion (US$4.1 billion) in administrative costs by 2018, reports Reuters, citing German monthly Manager Magazin. According to the report, the plan is part of a wider program of cost-cutting measures put forward by consultancy McKinsey.

    • UK joint mobile venture EE is to launch a WiFi calling service and carry out a trial of voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) services later this year. The WiFi-based service, to be offered in the fall, will allow calls to be be made through the phone's native dialer, with no need for an app. The VoLTE service, using 800MHz spectrum acquired in last year's auction, will be trialled in a previously unconnected part of rural Oxfordshire. (See Eurobites: EE's 4G Frenzy.)

    • Telekom Austria AG (NYSE: TKA; Vienna: TKA)'s Bulgarian subsidiary, MobilTel (M-Tel) , says it has carried out a successful trial of HD video streaming through an LTE network via an NFV-enhanced Packet Core. The idea is that in the near future, customers will be able to record and directly stream their smartphone content onto a cloud-based memory storage, without the need to offload content onto a computer first.

    • Telefónica SA (NYSE: TEF) has indicated that it may be considering exiting its strategic alliance with Telecom Italia (TIM) , reports Bloomberg. The Spanish giant has sold €103 million ($140 million) of bonds that can be exchanged for Telecom Italia shares. Earlier this week it was reported that three financial partners had begun to pull out of the investment vehicle that owns 22.4% of Telecom Italia.

    • The UK government has identified the recipients of a ₤10 million ($17 million) fund intended to help find new ways of getting high-speed broadband to remote corners of the country. Proposals getting financial support from the fund include: a hybrid fixed line/fixed wireless 50Mbit/s network trial in Wales; a trial of a range of line of sight, near-line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight technologies in Lincolnshire; and a trial of a new high-speed satellite broadband wholesale platform in Northern Ireland and Scotland. For further details of the fund recipients and which companies are involved in the trials, see this table.

    • At last! The killer app for M2M has arrived! Swisscom AG (NYSE: SCM)'s M2M Centre of Competence has introduced a solution that enables beer tanks to automatically order a refill when levels are getting low, even if the restaurant/bar owner is blissfully unaware of the impending emergency. Once again, it seems, the Feldschlösschen Beverages Group is ahead of the game. Figure 1: The Light Reading crew are laughing now, but they don't realize the beer tank levels are getting dangerously low. The Light Reading crew are laughing now, but they don't realize the beer tank levels are getting dangerously low.

      — 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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