Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: UK government plans to carry on (data-)snooping; Telefónica must cough up; operators bend EU's ear.
Google Ventures has launched a European branch in London, backed by an initial investment of $100 million, reports Bloomberg. In the US, Google Ventures has put money into Nest Labs and Uber Technologies, among others. (See Google to Buy Nest for $3.2B.)
The UK government plans to rush through emergency legislation that will allow the police and security services to continue to have access to personal mobile and other data records, reports the BBC. The move is a response to the recent European Court of Justice ruling that an earlier EU directive -- which formed the basis of UK's Data Retention (EC Direction) Act of 2009 -- was no longer valid. Not surprisingly, civil liberties groups are not happy about the news, calling it a "stitch-up" that is being railroaded through on a cross-party basis without proper scrutiny. See this report in The Guardian for more on their gripes.
The €152 million ($206 million) fine slapped on Telefónica SA (NYSE: TEF) by the European Commission for effectively imposing unfair prices on its competitors in the Spanish market has been upheld in the European Court of Justice. See this CoJ press release for the Court's explanation of its decision to completely dismiss Telefonica's appeal against the fine.
Russian operator MegaFon has completed its acquisition of a 50% share in Euroset, Russia's largest mobile phone retailer, for $657.3 million.
Some of Europe's heaviest telecom industry hitters have combined with the GSM Association (GSMA) to present a statement to Matteo Renzi, Prime Minister of Italy and President of the Council of the European Union, requesting, among other things: a "pro-investment regulatory framework"; support for the re-allocation of spectrum; a new interpretation of merger guidelines to support increased consolidation; and a "level playing field of regulation" between the communications industry on the one hand and the "Internet industry" on the other. (See Euro Operators Appeal to EU President.)
A study commissioned by BT Group plc (NYSE: BT; London: BTA) has concluded that the "social value" of being online is worth more than ₤1,000 ($1,710) a year, when factors such as improved employment opportunities and reduced feelings of isolation are taken into consideration. And there's always a chance that one of those badly spelt emails from Nigeria will help boost your bank account, of course.
— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading
Susan Fourtané, User Rank: Blogger 7/11/2014 | 1:32:19 AM
Google ventures crosses the pond Having London been declared the technology capital of the world launching a European branch in London sounds like a smart idea.
London's tech sector is going to be boosted further and even more startups are going to set their eyes in the English capital. This will give Google Ventures a variety of European tech companies from which to choose and help grow.
It's a great chance to access new investment, encourage job creation, and economic growth not only in London but in Europe as a whole.
Earlier this month, Santander UK was also reported to set up a $100m venture capital fund that will be based in London as plan of its investment in financial technology start-ups around the globe.
Light Reading’s Upskill U is a FREE, interactive, online educational resource that delivers must-have education on themes that relate to the overall business transformation taking place in the communications industry.
NEXT COURSE
Wednesday, October 5, 1:00PM EDT Gigabit & Smart Cities Joe Kochan, COO & Co-Founder, US Ignite
UPCOMING COURSE SCHEDULE
Friday, October 7, 1:00PM EDT Gigabit & DOCSIS 3.1 Ty Pearman, Director, Access Architecture, Comcast
Wednesday, October 19, 1:00PM EDT Securing a Virtual World Rita Marty, Executive Director, Mobility and Cloud Security, Chief Security Office, AT&T
Friday, October 21, 1:00PM EDT Security: Evolving the Data Center Rasool Kareem Irfan, Head, Telecom & Infrastructure Security Practice, Tata Communications Transformation Services Ltd (TCTS)
Six different communications service providers join to debate their visions of the future CSP, following a landmark presentation from AT&T on its massive virtualization efforts and a look back on where the telecom industry has been and where it's going from two industry veterans.
Join Alan Breznick, cable's answer to the Italian Stallion, as he runs through the highlights of SCTE Cable-Tec Expo, lumbers along in Rocky Balboa's footsteps and searches for the perfect Philadelphia cheesesteak.
At NFV & Carrier SDN in Denver, CenturyLink's Eric Nowak told Light Reading that when customers launch SD-WAN, they aren't necessary looking to save money, but instead they are looking for more value from what they're spending. He also shared some unique case studies and lessons learned from launching SD-WAN services.
For many operators, the gigabit evolution begins with the shift from DOCSIS 3.0 to DOCSIS 3.1. But that move represents a change not only in the protocol itself, but in the approach to architecting their entire DOCSIS delivery chain -- from the headend to the outside plant and home gateway components.
Jonathan Ruff, senior director of global technical ...
Andrew Dugan, Level 3 group vice president of global technology and IT, says enterprises need more bandwidth and they need it faster and with greater security, but they want to spend less, if possible. They are looking to carriers to reduce their network complexity and help protect them from cyberattacks as well.
Network operators should develop new APIs and business processes for reselling virtual assets to each other, says CenturyLink's Bill Walker. That will enable them to build digital business portfolios that help them avoid becoming commodity transport providers.
At Light Reading's NFV & Carrier SDN event in Denver, Travis Ewert of Level 3 Communications said there is terror in becoming supplier, integrator and developer, but it can be overcome and be cost effective.
Self-driving cars, medical sensors, smart cities... and refrigerators. In order to address the huge scope of IoT, KNect365 has created a unique online community that will help businesses to understand and monetize the opportunities that live within the IoT market. We look forward to welcoming you to IoT World News -- your gateway to a better connected future.
At Light Reading's NFV & Carrier SDN event in Denver, Ray Watson, vice president of Global Technology at Masergy, says that because of the growth in virtualization, the threat landscape is shifting in favor of the attackers. As a result, service providers need to think beyond just defending the perimeter and take a more holistic approach to security.
At September's NFV & Carrier SDN event in Denver, Light Reading sat down with Victoria Lonker, director of Product and New Business Innovation at Verizon, to chat about where the carrier is with delivering virtualized services to business customers.
More service providers than ever before are battling it out to win a slice of what is now a $40 billion global communications services pie, explains Ovum Principal Analyst David Molony.
For many operators, the gigabit evolution begins with the shift from DOCSIS 3.0 to DOCSIS 3.1. But that move represents a change not only in the protocol itself, but in the approach to architecting their entire DOCSIS delivery chain -- from the headend to the outside plant and home gateway components.
Jonathan Ruff, senior director of global technical ...
Self-driving cars, medical sensors, smart cities... and refrigerators. In order to address the huge scope of IoT, KNect365 has created a unique online community that will help businesses to understand and monetize the opportunities that live within the IoT market. We look forward to welcoming you to IoT World News -- your gateway to a better connected future.
One of the main challenges for network operators introducing NFV is to combine performance and flexibility in a cost-effective way, but there is a solution, explains Napatech's Dan Joe Barry.
F5's Kishore Patnam, product manager for F5's service provider solutions, discusses why service providers are moving towards virtualization and how his clients are utilizing F5's solutions.
Heavy Reading Senior Analyst Jim Hodges speaks with Accenture's Larry Socher and Matt Anderson about what service providers must do to transform their business to get the benefits of SDN and NFV including: leveraging DevOps, introducing real-time OSS and implementing analytics.
VeEX's Senior Director of Business Development, Perry Romano, explains how VeEX provides tools to help install, maintain, monitor and manage network infrastructure efficiently and effectively. The portfolio of products on display include the RXT-6000, MTTplus and TX300s.
Light Reading Editor Mitch Wagner talks to NetScout CMO Jim McNiel about maximizing the benefits of enterprise cloud and digital transformation while minimizing potential pitfalls with a proper monitoring and instrumentation strategy.
Many of the initial use case implementations are single-vendor and self-contained. The industry is still climbing the virtualization maturity curve, needing further clarity and stability in the NFV infrastructure (NFVi) and greater availability and choice of virtualized network functions (VNFs). Interoperability between NFVis and VNFs from different vendors ...
Senior Juniper Networks executives talk to Light Reading Founder & CEO Steve Saunders about NFV developments and the recent independent evaluation by test lab EANTC of Juniper's Cloud CPE solution.
Light Reading CEO Steve Saunders and UXP Systems CEO Gemini Waghmare discuss the strategic importance of digital identity for operators in the midst of transformation.
Join us for an in-depth interview between Steve Saunders of Light Reading and Alexis Black Bjorlin of Intel as they discuss the release of the company's Silicon Photonics platform, its performance, long-term prospects, customer expectations and much more.
A vital part of increasing the number of women in comms is transforming the ways companies can support and empower women. While progressive company policies that support both men and women in achieving work-life balance are a step in the right direction, creating a company culture that supports those policies can at times be more challenging.
During this show, we'll talk to Lynn Comp, Senior Director of Industry and Sales Enabling (ISE) in the Network Platforms Group at Intel, about why those challenges exist and how companies can overcome them. She'll provide insight into how Intel has worked to create a culture that supports work-life balance, and provide steps and guidance for other companies wishing to do the same. We will also leave plenty of time to get your questions answered live on the air.
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Light Reading today starts a new voyage as part of a larger Enterprise.
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