Eurobites: BT's Jansen gets dishonorable mention in Ofcom's Openreach report

Twelve major operators – Tele2, Orange, BT and Telefónica among them – have signed up to a new GSMA initiative that commits them to increase the number of mobile devices collected through "operator take-back" schemes to at least 20% of new devices sold to customers by 2030 and to ensure that 100% of used mobile devices collected by them will be repaired, reused or transferred to "controlled recycling" organizations. The aim, of course, is to help prevent devices ending up in landfill and poisoning the planet. The GSMA estimates that, if properly recycled, 5 billion smartphones could recover $8 billion worth of gold, palladium, silver, copper, rare earth elements and other critical minerals, and enough cobalt for 10 million electric car batteries.

In a similar neck of the telecom woods, Swisscom – which isn't part of the aforementioned GSMA initiative – has been declared the Most Sustainable Company in the Telecommunication Industry by World Finance magazine for the third time in a row. World Finance said it was particularly impressed by Swisscom's revised sustainability strategy and governance, its investments in innovative climate protection systems and the new Swisscom Campus online content hub. The Swiss operator has committed to becoming completely climate-neutral across its entire "value chain" by 2025. And for the cynics among you: no, World Finance isn't Swisscom's in-house magazine.

As predicted by some industry insiders a week ago, the European Commission has sent Orange and Másmóvil a Statement of Objections over their proposed joint venture in Spain. The Commission's view is that the JV "may reduce competition in the retail supply of mobile and fixed internet services as well as of multiple-play bundles in Spain" and ultimately result in "significant" price increases for consumers. The two companies must now reply to the Commission's unwelcome missive and request an oral hearing. Orange and Másmóvil are the second- and fourth-largest of the (currently) four mobile network operators in Spain. (See Orange, Másmóvil sign €19B Spanish merger deal.)

Elsewhere in merger-land, Vodafone and Three UK have deployed the "nothing to see here" defense over accusations that, because Three is owned by Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings, their proposed coming-together presents China-related national security concerns for the UK. As City A.M. reports, Vodafone said that it doesn't "believe that there should be any security concerns about this merger." (See Vodafone, Three promise to invest £11B in UK after merger.)

Nordic operator Telia has appointed Tim Pennington as interim EVP, group chief financial officer and a member of the group executive management team, replacing Per Christian Mørland, who is leaving the company at the end of September. Pennington has previously served as CFO of Millicom, Cable & Wireless Communications and Hutchison Telecommunications International. In addition, Dan Strömberg, SVP, head of LED (Lithuania, Estonia and Denmark) and a member of the group executive management team, will retire from Telia in August. The head of LED role will be removed when Strömberg retires.

Germany's CampusDynA consortium has chosen IS-Wireless for its planned private 5G network in Berlin, which will be based on the open RAN model and be geared toward Industry 4.0 applications. IS-Wireless will supply a range of "open" equipment that it says will provide the network performance required for connected and autonomous mobile robots.

It's good news for video streaming companies but bad news for just about everyone else as cinema chain Cineworld files for administration in the UK as part of a restructuring plan that it hopes will reduce its huge debts. As Reuters reports, administrators will move all of Cineworld's UK assets to a wholly owned subsidiary called Crown, and a newly incorporated company controlled by the group's lenders will become the sole owner of Crown, with Cineworld ceasing to have any interest in it. Cineworld had already filed for US bankruptcy protection in September.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading