Eurobites: Ericsson grabs 5G gig in Jordan

Ethio Telecom has revived its partial privatization plan, increasing the stake it is hoping to sell to "up to" 45%, from 40% previously. In a statement announcing the Request for Proposal, Ethio Telecom said that "low tele density in Ethiopia highlights the huge untapped potential in Ethiopia's telecommunication sector," adding that the company's "robust infrastructure coupled with its strong financial performance will offer significant competitive advantage to any investor."

Towers company Cellnex has teamed up with Dublin City University in Ireland to develop what it says is the country's first "5G-enabled smart campus." Once up and running, the rollout will offer mobile edge computing (MEC) capabilities which it is hoped will prove useful to university startups and spinouts wanting to give their nascent products and services the testbed treatment.

Dan Strömberg, the CEO of Telia Lithuania, amongst other senior Telia job titles, is to retire from the company during the summer of 2023 after a 43-year career with the Nordic operator. Giedrė Kaminskaitė-Salters, who has held various senior executive roles since joining Telia in 2015, replaces Strömberg as CEO of the Lithuania unit.

UK altnet CityFibre has completed the "primary build" of its full-fiber network in the Scottish city of Inverness. The 400km network covers 28,000 homes – some 90% of the city's residential properties – as well as businesses and public sector sites. Vodafone, TalkTalk, BrawBand, Zen, Brillband, Zybre and Giganet all have deals in place to offer their broadband services over the network.

Vodafone has beefed up its digital security software, adding round-the-clock ID monitoring, rebranding it as Secure Net and offering it to customers for £1 (US$1.21) a month after a three-month free trial. One in ten smartphone users have fallen victim to identity theft in the last year, according to Vodafone.

European operators fared pretty well in Opensignal's Global Mobile Network Experience Awards, with 3 Denmark topping the "Upload Speed Experience" category (22.9 Mbit/s), and Telia Finland and Telia Estonia jointly winning the "Excellent Consistent Quality" award.

Loved-up Light Reading readers (are there any other sort?) will be aware that Valentine's Day is just around the corner. Inevitably, the marketing aces at UK mobile operator EE are marking the fact with some new heavyweight research: a study which found that 58% of Brits claim online gaming spices up their love life, with 28% of couples now regularly gaming together at least once a week. Oh for the innocent days of Häagen-Dazs ice cream and a shared spoon…

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading