UK-based group embarks on plan to migrate "mission critical" OSS/BSS systems onto Oracle Cloud Infrastructure 'dedicated regions' in main European data centers.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: TIM gives cloud support to Salesforce; Telefonica Tech adds Netskope security; Yandex boss steps down.

After closing a deal that covers Assia's CloudCheck and Expresse products, DZS says revenue tied to software and services is on pace to reach $50 million annually and climb to $100 million by 2025.

Danielle Royston still has a $1 billion fund at her disposal and is biding her time as the technology sector contracts.

The acquisitive Israeli software vendor joins several big rivals that have already swooped on service assurance players.

The Swedish equipment maker is seeking improvements at underperforming units and setting up its enterprise stall.

CEO Charlie Vogt said DZS will target more software and enterprise licensing deals as it finalizes its purchase of Assia's analytics assets.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: former Ofcom boss joins Vodafone as non-exec; Three to close 3G network in 2024; why phones and beer don't mix.

The US telco software company is cutting back at its messaging and digital units after years of underperformance.

Harmonic's cable access revenues almost doubled in Q1 as CableOS deployments grew to 6.1 million, with 77 operators signed up to their virtualized access network platform.

CEO Charlie Vogt says the deal, which includes Assia's CloudCheck Wi-Fi and Expresse data analytics products, will be 'accretive from day one.' The Wi-Fi piece will put DZS in closer competition with Plume, AirTies and Minim.

The operator turned in a disappointing performance in Germany's fixed-line broadband market last year, with IT problems partly to blame.

Western technology companies still have significant teams of people based in Russia, and their status remains unclear.

The Finnish equipment vendor, which has not furloughed Russian employees, cannot simply turn off its tech.

The telco software company says it has stopped business in Russia, while dodging questions about its reliance on Russian coders.

The UK operator maintains its stance on in-market consolidation, but manages to increase postpaid customers and revenue in 2021.

Former BearingPoint unit picks up more business from long-standing carrier partner NTT.

The provider of B/OSS software lists three major Russian clients in its last annual filing with US authorities and also does business in Ukraine.

Telecom equipment giant Ericsson bribed officials and paid protection money to grow its business in Iraq, according to new reporting from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

David Bachmann, CEO of ng-voice, talks about his company's technology and why he thinks startups have a better chance to work alongside telecom giants as 5G networks become more software-centric.

Light Reading's Fiona Graham hits the showfloor for an update as Mobile World Congress 2022 kicks off in Barcelona.

Syniverse had hoped to become a publicly traded company - and raise more than $1 billion in funding - but that plan collapsed amid current market conditions.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Telefonica Tech gets on Oracle's Cloud; Zain KSA picks Nokia for network expansion; Seacom bags Ugandan assets.

Minim, a company that holds the Motorola branding license, expects to develop modems and gateways based on specifications that will enable cable operators to deliver multi-gigabit services on HFC.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Liberty Global spots EVs opportunity; MWingz gets airborne with Comarch software; Proximus tackles digital exclusion.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Vodacom teams up with Amdocs for African Centre of Excellence; MTN sells shares in Nigerian unit; Ericsson offers mentoring in Moroccan students.

Supplier says deployments of its 'CableOS' virtualization platform have reached 73 service providers worldwide and now serve 4.8 million modems.

The suit, filed by Washington, DC, Attorney General Karl Racine, alleges that Arise Virtual Solutions and Comcast failed to pay service agents legally due wages.

Company claims its software, when tightly integrated with the modem or gateway, provides a fresh way to support app-targeted, low-latency capabilities on DOCSIS networks while still being compatible with the CableLabs specs.

China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom are stepping up to support the national crusade to boost China's computing power.

The results of the FCC's auction of midband spectrum between 3.45GHz and 3.55GHz are in: AT&T spent $9 billion, Dish spent $7.3 billion, T-Mobile spent $2.9 billion. And Verizon spent nothing.

Fraser Stirling upped to global chief product officer; Elad Nafshi rises to EVP and chief network officer; Rick Rioboli named chief technology and information officer; and Noam Raffaelli named SVP, wireless engineering, emerging technologies and business.

A top Google executive this week publicly begged Apple to support the RCS standard in its iMessage service. Meanwhile, Verizon appears poised to launch RCS services this year with vendors Google and Synchronoss.

'Although this decision ... will cost the organization a great deal of money, that was secondary to our primary concern, which is to put the welfare of our members first,' wrote NATPE CEO JP Bommel.

T-Mobile's journey into advertising technology began in 2019 when the company quietly acquired mobile marketing startup PushSpring. It expanded Monday with T-Mobile's purchase of Octopus Interactive.

Some of the biggest tech companies in the world appear to be preparing to fight each other in the market for augmented and virtual reality headsets. 5G providers likely are likely cheering on the sidelines.

Continuing its recent spending spree, Oracle aims to expand its applications portfolio by adding AI-optimized assurance, analytics, and automation solutions from Federos.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Ofcom bans locked handsets; Hyperoptic takes part in smart-home pilot; Telesign goes public.

XCOM said its demonstration uses edge computing and Microsoft HoloLens 2 Mixed Reality headsets, thus allowing users to 'move freely, simultaneously and seamlessly' through a digital reality.

Comcast has no plans to implement its usage-based broadband policies in its Northeast markets in 2022 'at this time,' but has made no commitment to keep it that way in 2023 and beyond.

The Japanese firm is determined to serve one fifth of all open RAN business by 2030 and establish itself as a new 5G force.

With the recent launch of a new, more scalable billing system for mobile, 'We're ready to go faster,' says Charter Chairman and CEO Tom Rutledge.

OpenVault says deal adds scale to its data collection capabilities for cable, fiber and wireless networks, and puts the company in position to offer capacity-enhancing services to MSOs that have deployed DOCSIS 3.1.

eSIM will support new features 'like being able to switch plans instantly, getting live-at-arrival connectivity when traveling abroad, or intelligently shifting between networks,' according to the company.

Reuters reported that the FCC's four commissioners will approve Verizon's purchase of America Movil's TracFone shortly. The prepaid provider counts a total of around 20 million customers.

Although there are a few new elements in play, including possible smartphone shortages and a competitive discount from Dish, Black Friday looks relatively calm this year on the wireless front.

Telcos need a way to address the hyperscaler lock-in. Roz Roseboro ponders whether Vodafone's TaaS platform plan is a reasonable insurance policy or another example of a telco driving recklessly.

New working group aims to conceive an 'evolved architectural blueprint' for hybrid MVNO models in which cable operators will strive to combine access to a partner's mobile network and their own Wi-Fi and 4G/5G networks.

The operator's plan to recruit another 7,000 software engineers and build more of its own technologies threatens upheaval in the IT vendor community.

In response, the NCTA called the report 'a highly distorted view' of ISP data collection policies that inappropriately attempts to lump broadband providers into the same category as the Big Tech platforms.

At the exact same time that AT&T executives were boasting that their 'aggressive acquisition and retention efforts continue to bear fruit,' T-Mobile launched a new $1,000 competitive attack.

Verizon stopped offering its most aggressive smartphone promotion to its existing customers, but continues to offer it to new customers. Meantime, AT&T reduced its smartphone discount from $1,000 to $800.

Made famous by this year's MWC, public cloud evangelist Danielle Royston now has $1 billion at her disposal to buy and develop telecom software.

Kyrio's new software-powered Adaptive Route Control (ARC) system enables fixed and mobile operators to route customer traffic to the best available network on an application-by-application basis.

Some companies are offering generous sign-up bonuses. Others are cutting store hours. Whatever the result, it's clear that workforce shortages are beginning to affect the retail sector of the wireless industry.

With its new Spectrum Exchange, Federated hopes to provide spectrum licenses on-demand, just as Google scales its cloud computing services up and down based on customer demand.

Armed with a $300 million from an 'F' round led by Japan's SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Plume intends to target companies that can broaden the smart home software specialist's cloud, data and AI capabilities, Plume CEO Fahri Diner says.

CSG says the deal will enable it to tie in third-party services that can take advantage of emerging 5G network slicing capabilities and help CSG's partners extend to markets such as connected healthcare and manufacturing.

Blank check company targeting TMT/ICT firms in Europe and emerging markets starts life on Nasdaq.

AT&T and T-Mobile are requiring that employees who return to offices are fully vaccinated. T-Mobile is working to get most employees back into the office by the end of this month.

Shareholders in call center software company Five9 voted down what would have been Zoom's biggest purchase ever, as videoconferencing company eyes its post-pandemic future.

Partly due to rules on EU data sovereignty, Spanish giant will shift 'mission-critical' OSS/BSS apps from Oracle database systems onto private data centers.

Huawei's 4G PCRF at BT-owned mobile operator to make way for cloud-native and 'converged' 4G/5G policy solution from US supplier.

Verizon and T-Mobile's best iPhone 13 offers require customers to subscribe to their most expensive unlimited plans. AT&T, meanwhile, 'is offering its most lucrative promotions to all unlimited customers.'

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Nokia lands XGS-PON deal with Telekom Slovenije; TalkTalk offers six months' free fiber broadband to jobseekers; Ericsson's vision thing.

A number of companies in the telecom industry have attempted to create a network of individual networks. But Helium is doing so with one big, new element: a very clear and tangible incentive.

Verizon's Hans Vestberg said it's a 'tougher labor market there' in retail, due to the ongoing pandemic. He also acknowledged 'there are some challenges in the supply chain.'

T-Mobile's iPhone 13 promotions aren't impressing analysts. The company's new 5G icon follows Verizon's lead. And T-Mobile's growth prospects for Q4 appear stunted. 'Uncarrier' it isn't.

Marc Price, CTO of Matrixx, talks about the possibilities that exist for network operators when they can more creatively charge for services and what new infrastructure unlocks those opportunities.

Verizon's Ronan Dunne didn't say exactly what Verizon might do in the prepaid market, but he said the company might slow the migration of customers from prepaid services to postpaid services.

Apple is widely expected to announce its iPhone 13 during an event next week. Here are six themes to track as Apple shows off its latest smartphone wares.

Light Reading is delighted to announce the finalists for this year's Leading Lights Awards program, which is now in its 17th year.

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Sparkle goes green in Greece; Colt lays fiber in the Channel Tunnel; Google appeals French fine.

A year since launching Japan's fourth mobile network, the Japanese Internet company is now setting itself up as a vendor.

US software supplier can lay claim to a starring role in the Swedish telecom group's ambitious IT transformation program.

A laptop tethered to a phone via a Wi-Fi hotspot is consuming data in the exact same set-up that a smart watch tethered to a phone via Bluetooth is consuming data. But the cost is much, much different.

With roots stemming back to Suddenlink and Altice USA, the startup recently landed a $3 million seed round from a group that includes Cequel III, an investment firm led by cable industry vet Jerry Kent.

Verizon promised to offer Lifeline services via TracFone for at least three years, one of several promises the company made in hopes of speeding regulatory approval of the transaction.

Rakuten Mobile's revenues grew 17% though building base stations dragged it into the red, after deals buying Altiostar and partnering Germany's 1&1.

'This is a manufactured crisis, orchestrated by Dish, and it is about money, not customers,' according to T-Mobile's CEO. But Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen said that T-Mobile is just being a 'sore winner.'

Last week's telecom news highlights included an overview of Rakuten's impressively aggressive plans, a look at Telegram's rapid growth and the looming threat it presents to telcos, and a summary of the supply chain issues that broadband equipment providers are having as the pandemic has forced higher prices and longer wait times for many components and logistics services.

Rakuten is betting that its elaborate composition of software and services will be music to the ears of telecom operators, enterprises and more.

In a move aimed at focusing its business on fiber-fed customers and big businesses, Lumen has struck a deal with Apollo to offload a large part of its US network, The WSJ reports.

AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile are all encouraging their prepaid customers to sign up for more profitable postpaid services. Dish's forthcoming postpaid brand is 'a huge opportunity for us to do the same.'

A newly reported settlement between the state and telecom trade associations likely puts to rest an effort to require broadband providers in New York to offer a $15 tier of service.

Private equity company Stonepeak agreed to buy Lumen's Latin American business for $2.7 billion. Whether that deal will pave the way for Lumen to sell its US-based DSL business to Apollo remains to be seen.

Last week's telecom news highlights included some spectrum auction and siesta news from Spain, an update on how Verizon moved forward with a fabulous, free 5G phone promotion, and you'll find out what US city took a gamble on building a network that covered 65 square miles with broadband in just 45 days.

Venk Mutalik, a Comcast engineer, developed 'XMF,' a monitoring system powered by spectrum analyzer chips used in ROADMs. XFM reduces the time to pinpoint fiber cuts from two hours to about 90 seconds, Comcast says.

The Scandi operator plans to reduce the number of IT suppliers from 29 to just four as part of its latest transformation program.

Zoom buys cloud call center business Five9 for $15 billion, eyeing a new market for its Zoom Phones and Rooms.

Says latest acquisition will shore up customer orchestration and analytic capabilities and enable CSG to strengthen its presence in areas such as retail, financial services and healthcare.

Japanese supplier will also migrate 11,000 employees worldwide onto the Azure platform.

Dish Network debuted a customer loyalty program shortly after it acquired Boost Mobile from T-Mobile. But the company is no longer offering that '$hrink-It' program.

Verizon said it will 'make available a service plan to Lifeline and other prepaid customers through TracFone that includes 5G service.' But the carrier didn't say which flavor of 5G it might offer.

NEC and its Netcracker subsidiary aim to show off the benefits of running a 5G core in the public cloud without losing all the control of the traditional telecom OSS/BSS.

T-Mobile is using the eSIM capability in newer iPhones to give customers a free month of service on its network, one of the many functions enabled by the shift to eSIM.

T-Mobile's marketing leadership is in a transition phase. Meantime, AT&T is preparing a brand refresh campaign. The actions are in response to expectations of frenetic growth in the 5G industry this year.

The French group says a cyberattack was not to blame for a major network outage that affected calls to emergency numbers.

Although a New York judge issued an injunction against legislation requiring $15 per month broadband, the issue is still very much undecided.

Staneff said on Twitter that it's time for a new adventure. He left the wireless carrier on June 1.