Eurobites: Salt shakes up Swiss mobile market in 2022

Truespeed, a broadband provider based in southwest England, has turned to Adtran's XGS-PON technology to enable it to deliver speeds of up to 900 Mbit/s to households and up to 10 Gbit/s to business customers. Truespeed has passed more than 60,000 properties with its full-fiber network and hopes to increase that number to half a million by 2025.

In South Africa, Douglas Craigie Stevenson is stepping down as CEO of mobile operator Cell C for personal reasons. Craigie Stevenson was appointed permanent CEO of Cell C in August 2019, after taking on the acting CEO role in March 2019 following the exit of former CEO Jose Dos Santos. Brett Copans will now lead the company as interim CEO until a permanent successor is appointed.

Also clearing his desk is Per Christian Mørland, who is currently EVP and group CFO at Telia but has served notice that he will be leaving the company during the second half of 2023, heading back to Norway for family reasons. The recruitment process for his successor has begun.

UK converged operator Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) has connected another 6,400 homes to its gigabit network in East Grinstead, a town in southern England. According to recent press reports, VMO2 is currently in talks with altnet CityFibre over a potential takeover bid worth up to £3 billion (US$3.6 billion).

Germany's 1&1 Versatel is extending its fiber network to the Geitlingstraße business park in Mülheim an der Ruhr, offering speeds of up to 100 Gbit/s to the around 100 companies based there. 1&1 Versatel has been bringing its fiber to business parks since 2015 – to date more than 300 parks throughout Germany are connected.

France's Bouygues Telecom has signed a deal with Sinch, the company behind the eponymous SMS communication platform used by brands wanting to stay "engaged" with their customers. The agreement will allow brands to pester their customers via a dedicated 093X number. "Hey Jean-Paul! We hope you have been enjoying using your elasticated comfort pants! Let us know if you need a bigger size!" That kind of thing. But in French.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading