Eurobites: Nokia adds vim to Bulgaria's Vivacom

EE, the UK mobile operator that is part of BT, has switched on 5G in 12 more towns and cities, stretching from Aberdeen in the north to Crawley in the south. The additions bring EE's total 5G location tally to 112. (See BT 5G turns one year old with not much to celebrate and A User Review of EE's 5G Network in London.)

UK buyers of Apple's new iPhone – the four versions of which are due to be launched later today in an online event – may be left searching in vain for 5G coverage, according to a Telegraph report, if fears that the new phone won't support 700MHz sprectrum prove to be justified. The report says that a lack of support for 700MHz could be of benefit to Three UK, which has bagged large amounts of 5G spectrum.

Ericsson and China Telecom say they have successfully completed China's first 5G standalone (5G SA) data call using the Swedish vendor's spectrum-sharing technology. The call was made on China Telecom's 2.1GHz commercial 5G network in Deyang City, Sichuan Province.

Interxion has acquired a 22,000 square meter parcel of land in which to expand within about a kilometer of its existing campus in Vienna, Austria. The land will support the development of up to 40 megawatts of additional IT capacity and be fully connected to the existing campus, which itself boasts connection to 120 carriers, four Internet exchanges and direct access to seven global cloud platforms.

Openreach, the semi-autonomous network access division of BT, has been named as one of the UK's top, erm, "superbrands" after a two-year process of distancing itself from its parent company. According to Damon Segal, co-founder of The Academy of Chief Marketers and CEO of Superbrands UK, "[Openreach] has been recognised by consumers to offer significant emotional and/or tangible advantages over its competitors." That's always the thing with broadband provision – it's always an emotional rollercoaster.

Deutsche Telekom has launched its first router that comes equipped with Wi-Fi 6 technology thanks to an upgrade of its Speedport Pro Plus. According to the operator, the router makes better use of wireless channels through a new transmission procedure combined with 12 Wi-Fi antennas and offers speeds of up to 9,700 Mbit/s. The powerful performance doesn't come cheap, though: the router will sell for €389.92 (US$459.61).

Today is the first of two "Amazon Prime Days," when we are all supposed to jump online, bag a bargain and basically do our bit for the Bezos billions. Reuters reports that Verdi, a German trade union, is taking a different tack, calling on workers at seven Amazon warehouses to go on strike as part of a long-running fight over pay and conditions. Amazon claims that most of its workers were continuing to work as normal.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading