Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Proximus explores 5G applications with Vives; KPN does e-health deal; Vodafone's 5G helps partially sighted tennis fans at Wimbledon.
Ardian, a Paris-based private investment house, has taken a 50% stake in MXT Holdings, a Mexican company that develops neutral-host communications infrastructure, offering wireless and fiber services. Ardian's investment will be used by MXT to complete an asset swap of around 200 towers and 1,800km of metro fiber from Telefónica, as well as "strategic acquisitions." As part of the deal, Antoine Delaprée, founder and CEO of MXT, will continue to lead the company.
Belgium's Proximus has teamed up with Vives, a technical university, to explore various industrial 5G applications. One project will see Proximus contribute to a test platform for drone applications at Droneport Ostend, as well as the testing of self-driving vehicles and the training of care workers at the Kortrijk campus.
KPN has entered into a multi-year partnership deal with Founda Health to develop e-health applications for healthcare providers. The Founda Health platform, which links third-party digital applications such as questionnaires, patient portals or home monitoring systems to healthcare facilities, will become part of the KPN Health Exchange, a service that enables the secure sharing of patient data.
Vodafone is supplying the 5G connectivity for a trial of special headsets that allow visually impaired tennis fans to get a clearer view of the ongoing action at Wimbledon. Live footage is streamed from local TV cameras over 5G to the headsets, which have been developed by GiveVision. The headsets then enhance the footage to suit the person's specific sight profile by bringing it closer to their eye to stimulate the photoreceptor cells in the retina. Previously, sports fans using the headsets could watch the live broadcast feed, says Vodafone, but they would need to stay within 10-20m of a transmitter box in a pre-determined "accessibility" area – this new setup allows them to watch the live action from anywhere in the stands.
BT has extended its contract with TXO, which will see TXO reuse, resell and recycle old equipment from BT's telephone exchanges across the UK. The two companies have already been working together for 15 years.
From old BT gear to new BT gear: The operator has launched what it says is its "most advanced router yet," Smart Hub 3, which uses Wi-Fi 6 technology to improve connectivity for small businesses across the UK, delivering download speeds of up to 900 Mbit/s when used in conjuction with BT's Complete Wi-Fi Plus signal-extender.
— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading
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