Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Orange and Oracle team up in West Africa; Sky integrates Apple TV+; MTS does private networks with Ericsson.

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

October 29, 2021

2 Min Read
Eurobites: EE's 5G heads indoors with 700MHz switch-on

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Orange and Oracle team up in West Africa; Sky integrates Apple TV+; MTS does private networks with Ericsson.

  • EE, the UK mobile operator owned by BT, is to deploy recently acquired 700MHz spectrum at more than 50 sites in what it is describing as the next phase of its 5G rollout: the switching on of "indoor 5G." EE was the first UK operator to launch 5G services and says it has seen a more than seven-fold increase in people using its 5G network in the last 12 months as folk upgrade their devices.

    • Meanwhile, back in ye olde 4G worlde, EE has completed the rollout of the last-generation technology on Glasgow's subway network, which is good news for commuters and, more importantly, the emergency services, who will use the 4G network to access the long-delayed Emergency Services Network (ESN) when it finally arrives. The project has been completed just in time for COP26, the climate-change talking shop that is coming to town on October 31.

    • Orange is teaming up with Oracle in West Africa to jointly offer cloud services for businesses and public sector organizations, with Orange planning to use Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) to bolster its range of managed cloud services. Senegal and Ivory Coast are the first two countries on the list. The two companies are also planning to collaborate on healthcare, focusing – understandably given the current context – on vaccination.

    • Sky, the UK-based purveyor of pay-TV and more, has reached a deal with Apple to bring the Apple TV+ streaming service onto two of its TV platforms, namely the Sky Q set-top box and its new Sky Glass telly, which does away with the need for a satellite dish. Sky already has deals with rival streaming services Netflix and Disney+ in place.

    • Russia's MTS has signed a deal with Ericsson to develop private 5G-ready networks for a range of industries. The agreement cements an existing relationship: The pair have already carried out several pilot projects in this area since 2019.

    • Belgian operator Proximus has set up a 5G lab in Charleroi to serve the Wallonia region. The lab has been developed by the A6K 5G consortium, made up of various industrialists and research centers, to test out industrial applications of the technology.

    • A local authority in London is trialing the use of Vodafone's IoT technology to tackle the increasingly bothersome issue of illegal dumping, or "fly-tipping," as the locals call it. Internet-connected cameras will be deployed at various fly-tipping hotspots across the London borough of Sutton, only activated when the technology's artificial intelligence deems there may be nefarious activity afoot.

      — 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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