Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Intracom tests PtMP with 5G service providers; Telia's 5G drives timber project; WhatsApp tweaks privacy policy.
Nordic operator Telenor has agreed to explore a potential merger of its Thai subsidiary, Dtac, with True, which is owned by Bangkok-based conglomerate C. P. Group. If it goes ahead, the deal will be a "merger of equals" and one that will seek to raise venture capital funding of up to US$200 million to invest in promising digital startups in Thailand, say the two companies.
Greece's Intracom Telecom says it has completed laboratory and field tests of its WiBAS G5 PtMP (point-to-multipoint) system for fixed wireless access with a number of providers in Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific using their 24GHz, 26GHz and 28GHz spectrum. According to Intracom, the tests confirmed that the system can deliver "several hundreds" of Mbit/s to subscribers at ranges of more than 5km.
Telia is supplying the 5G network for a research project in Sweden that is looking at how 5G can be used to enable hundreds of timber terminals across the country to deploy remote-controlled high-lift loaders as part of a drive for greater automation and increased workplace safety. The loader, near the town of Timrå, was kitted out with connected cameras and sensors, making it possible to control the machine remotely over a 5G network, supplemented by a private network that Telia has built at SCA's terminal. Other organizations involved in the Remote Timber project include Mid Sweden University, SCA, Volvo CE, Biometria and Skogforsk.
Volvo machinery was kitted out with cameras and sensors and controlled over Telia's 5G network at the Timrå terminal.
(Source: Telia)
Messaging service WhatsApp is amending its privacy policy in Europe following the €225 million (US$253 million) data protection fine it received at the hands of the Irish data protection watchdog earlier this year, the BBC reports. The company, which, like Facebook, is owned by Meta, insists the changes will not make any material difference to the WhatsApp service but will just "add additional material" around its existing practices.
— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading
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