Eurobites: EXFO Makes Move on Astellia

German automation specialist Festo has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China's Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd to facilitate collaborative development work on using 5G slicing technology in manufacturing processes. The MoU specifically name-checks the "robot-as-a-service" concept, which is intended to enable a move away from one-size-fits-all mass production and towards "mass customizing." Cited as one of the key benefits that could arrive with the rollout of 5G networks, network slicing will in theory allow operators to provide many different types of virtualized network service over the same 5G infrastructure.

Telefónica 's Colombian unit hopes to raise around €1.8 billion ($2.15 billion) in fresh capital to reduce its debt pile and pay off a €472 million ($558.5 million) fine relating to a dispute over local infrastructure, Reuters reports.

T-Systems International GmbH , the enterprise arm of Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT), is taking its Open Telekom Cloud public cloud platform to Asia, using a data center in Singapore. The company plans to expand the range of features available on the OpenStack-based platform as and when the demand arises.

Look out -- here comes another thing-as-as-a-service! The culprit is BT Group plc (NYSE: BT; London: BTA), which has launched its BT Personalised Compute Management System (PCMS), a cloud-based offering that it has perhaps inevitably dubbed a "business-platform-as-a-service." According to BT, users of the PCMS will "gain access to ready-made business support processes and functions to enable them to sell, fulfil and monetise their own portfolio of digital services." It will become commercially available in the final quarter of 2017.

Vodafone UK is hoping to attract the youth market with the launch of Voxi, a sub-brand that offers SIM-only plans that include "free" data for a range of social media apps including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. As Engadget reports, any data used for these apps will not count against the customer's monthly data allowance.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading