Eurobites: Telenor Takes 5G to the Arctic

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: VodafoneZiggo virtualizes with Amdocs; Batelco analyzes with Ericsson; the Queen lays down the law on UK broadband.

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

October 14, 2019

2 Min Read
Eurobites: Telenor Takes 5G to the Arctic

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: VodafoneZiggo virtualizes with Amdocs; Batelco analyzes with Ericsson; the Queen lays down the law on UK broadband.

  • Telenor is putting on its thermals and taking its 5G way up north, to the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, Norway. The operator is planning to build on existing work carried out over a 4G network to test drones, emergency networks and 360-degree cameras connected by 5G, in part to help Svalbard be better prepared for avalanches. The pilot will also include testing of broadband via 5G and 5G on mobile handsets.

    • Dutch cable mouthful VodafoneZiggo has chosen Amdocs' NFV offering to help it design and deploy virtual cloud networks for enterprises. Amdocs will introduce a new network and service orchestration and automation layer by delivering its NFV Orchestrator (NFVO) and Generic Virtual Network Function Manager (G-VNFM), which will handle the automation of VodafoneZiggo's service management.

    • Batelco Bahrain has opted for Ericsson's Expert Analytics software to help it solve customer care issues more efficiently.

    • Liberty Global is hoping to speed the sale of its UPC Switzerland business to Sunrise by offering to buy up to 500 million Swiss francs ($502.11 million) of newly created Sunrise Communications shares, Reuters reports. Sunrise has faced a number of obstacles to the proposed deal, not least opposition from both activist investor AOC and Sunrise's biggest backer, Freenet. (See Eurobites: Sunrise/Liberty Deal Catches More Flak.)

    • Norway's Nevion wants the world to know that Virtuoso, its software-defined media node, was used to help with video processing during live coverage of the "my-tank's-bigger-than-yours" celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of creation of the People's Republic of China. Virtuoso's TICO media function enables encoding and decoding of UHD/4K video for transport over 10GE/IP or 3G-SDI links.

    • In what might be perceived as a grand exercise in wishful thinking as the UK government apparently hurtles towards a messy, un-negotiated exit from European Union at the end of this month, today's Queen's Speech -- in which the monarch outlines the legislative priorities of "her" government over the next session of parliament -- promised that "new legislation will accelerate the delivery of fast, reliable broadband to millions of homes." So that's alright then.

      — Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading

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About the Author

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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