Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: EC slams Turkey's Internet clampdown plan; Irish eyes aren't smiling; Tele2 sheds customers.

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

February 7, 2014

3 Min Read
Euronews: Sochi Gets 4G

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: EC slams Turkey's Internet clampdown plan; Irish eyes aren't smiling; Tele2 sheds customers.

  • Today sees the official opening of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and the hollering, heavily anoraked crowds will no doubt be putting the mobile networks to the test, checking their Grindr profiles and wotnot. Rostelecom announced Thursday that it had launched its LTE network in Sochi, deploying 40 basestations in the mountains surrounding the city and in the coastal areas. Back in January rival operator Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (MTS) (NYSE: MBT) announced that it was "fully ready" for the Games, having modernized its network in Krasnodar Krai, which encompasses the Sochi region.

    • Turkey, which is in the process of trying to join the European Union, is facing criticism from the authorities in Brussels for its plan to impose tighter controls on the Internet, reports the Financial Times (subscription required). Under the proposed legislation, the Turkish telecom regulator would be able to force Internet service providers to bar access to any website that was deemed to be infringing privacy within four hours of being told to do so. Browser histories would also have to be retained for two years.

    • Fiscal second-quarter revenues at Irish operator eir fell 5% year-on-year to €334 million (US$453 million), with its fixed-line division, plummeting 9%, bearing the brunt of the slump. It's proving tough for Irish operators across the board to make a living, as this analysis on the Irish Independent.ie website points out. New Internet-based messaging and voice services are steadily eroding revenues in the Republic -- 1.3 million Irish adults (out of a population of around 4 million) use Facebook Messenger as a messaging service, for example.

    • Also having a tough time in the fixed-line sector is Sweden-based Tele2 AB (Nasdaq: TLTO). Its fourth-quarter revenues fell 3.8% year-on-year to 7.56 billion Swedish kronor ($1.15 billion), and it also managed to lose 492,000 customers during the period, a calamity it blames primarily on an unfavourable retail commission structure at its Kazakhstan operation.

    • Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and nine of its staff in Switzerland have been cleared of any wrongdoing following an immigration investigation that was launched last year. According to ITreseller, the authorities concluded that the company, rather than the individuals, are responsible for the relevant work permits, and that concluded that Huawei had not broken any laws. The decision will come as a relief to Huawei, as Swisscom AG (NYSE: SCM) had reportedly threatened to sever ties with the Chinese vendor if it had been found guilty of breaking any federal laws. (See Huawei & Swisscom Complete 100G Upgrade and Swisscom Picks Huawei for Fiber Expansion.)

    • Vipnet Croatia, owned by Telekom Austria, has opted for a converged charging offering from Canada's Redknee Inc. (Toronto TSX: RKN). The operator noted that upgrading to the latest version of Redknee's system will "increase operational efficiency" and provide it with "the ability to launch enhanced services to our customers quickly." See this press release for more details.

      — 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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