Eurobites: Human touch goes missing in online era, finds KPN studyEurobites: Human touch goes missing in online era, finds KPN study

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Three UK hit by voice-call outage; Telecom Italia claims eSIMs advance; VMO2's AI granny tells all.

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

January 24, 2025

3 Min Read
Two hands with fingers almost touching
(Source: Connect Images/Alamy Stock Photo)

Dutch operator KPN has been looking into the issue of "contact poverty," the term it uses for the lack of human contact in some people's day-to-day lives, partly brought about by the ubiquity and ease of online and mobile messaging. KPN's survey found that 70% of Dutch people had experienced contact poverty, with 30% of those surveyed considering their social contacts to be insufficient and one in four believing they receive too few in-person visits. More than 45% of people want to spend more time having actual conversations, whether on the phone or in person. The survey was conducted as part of KPN's "Mooiste Contact Month" initiative, which seeks to raise awareness of the contact poverty issue.

Three suffers voice-call outage, prepares for Storm Éowyn

Three UK suffered a significant voice-call outage yesterday (Thursday), with some customers unable to make even emergency calls, the BBC reports. More than 10,000 Three customers told the Downdetector outage service that they were unable to make or receive calls. This morning on Twitter Three said that service had "almost returned to normal overnight," although it admitted that it had picked up an issue with calls connected via Wi-Fi which it was investigating urgently. It also said that it was deploying extra engineering resources in areas of the UK likely to be affected by Storm Éowyn, which arrived on UK shores overnight.

TIM claims first-mover advantage on eSIM tech

Telecom Italia (TIM) says it's the first Italian operator to offer smartphones containing an eSIM that can be activated with just a click, without the need to scan a QR code. The activation uses the GSMA's "eSIM Discovery" technical standard, which associates the eID code of the eSIM with the customer's mobile number. The devices being offered by TIM belong to the Samsung Galaxy S25 product line.

What Daisy's learned about scammers

Virgin Media O2's scam-busting "AI granny," Daisy (basically a bot pretending to be a slightly confused elderly woman that answers calls from would-be scammers), has been revealing some of the latest scam trends after spending hundreds of hours on the phone with the miscreants. The two main takeaways, neither of which will surprise many people: Scamming people is a full-time job, with fraudsters working from call centers specifically set up for the purpose; and scammers often impersonate well-known companies such as Amazon and Microsoft.

CMA leans on Google over fake reviews problem

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is forcing Google to take a firmer line on the issue of fake reviews on its site. Google must sanction UK businesses that have boosted their online star ratings with fake reviews, as well as sanctioning people who have written them. The search giant has also committed itself to putting warning alerts on the profiles of UK businesses that use fake reviews. The CMA estimates that as much as £23 billion (US$28.5 billion) of UK consumer spending is influenced by online reviews annually.

EE wins nPerf's 2024 network test – though Three's 5G is out in front

EE has triumphed overall in nPerf's latest test of UK mobile network operators, which covered the period January 1-December 31, 2024. The operator, said nPerf, demonstrated excellence across various key performance indicators, including download, upload and latency. Three, however, performed more strongly on the 5G front.

Five years ago today…

Eurobites reported Apple's disgruntlement at the EU's plan to force all phone makers selling their devices within the bloc to adopt a universal port. The tech giant complained that the move would result in millions of its Lightning ports – used on its iPhones – being sent to landfill. But Apple lost that battle and the USB-C connection now rules the roost.

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About the Author

Paul Rainford

Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading

Paul is based on the Isle of Wight, a rocky outcrop off the English coast that is home only to a colony of technology journalists and several thousand puffins.

He has worked as a writer and copy editor since the age of William Caxton, covering the design industry, D-list celebs, tourism and much, much more.

During the noughties Paul took time out from his page proofs and marker pens to run a small hotel with his other half in the wilds of Exmoor. There he developed a range of skills including carrying cooked breakfasts, lying to unwanted guests and stopping leaks with old towels.

Now back, slightly befuddled, in the world of online journalism, Paul is thoroughly engaged with the modern world, regularly firing up his VHS video recorder and accidentally sending text messages to strangers using a chipped Nokia feature phone.

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