Vodacom South Africa has launched what it calls a "cloud-based phone" to bring down the cost of smartphones and to help speed up the shift from legacy networks to 4G. The new phone, says Vodacom, draws on the power of cloud computing to offer a range of features that are typically associated with entry-level smartphones, but at a more affordable price. In its launch announcement, Vodacom cited a 2022 report by the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, which found that lowering the cost of devices is key to increasing access to smartphones and recommended that the potential of such cloud-based devices, also called "thin-client phones," should be explored further. The device, which comes with 48MB RAM, 128MB ROM, a 2.8-inch screen and a 1000mAh battery, will retail for 249 South African rand (US$13.93).

Connect Europe, the telco trade lobby group formerly known as ETNO, has surprised nobody by welcoming Ursula von der Leyen's pro-competition announcement about the new EU College of Commissioners. In her statement, President von der Leyen said: "The whole college is committed to competitiveness! We have dissipated the former rigid stovepipes," which is Light Reading's quote of the year so far. Both Connect Europe and von der Leyen also referred back to the recent report by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, which called more consolidation in the European telecom sector and the harmonization of EU-wide spectrum licensing rules. (See Europe just can't give up moaning about 5G in drivel from Draghi.)

Vodafone has been forced to pull a home broadband ad following a complaint by BT. The UK's Advertising Standards Authority sided with BT after deciding that Vodafone's claim that "millions of BT customers across the UK are realising they can switch to Vodafone and get the same broadband for less" and that it used the "same technology as BT but [will] cost you less" did not really stand up to scrutiny, even though both BT and Vodafone's broadband service use the (BT-allied) Openreach network.

Nokia has announced a strategic partnership with iSAT Africa to improve rural connectivity in Liberia. The deployment, which comprises Nokia's AirScale radio portfolio, including massive MIMO radios, remote radio heads and basestations, will take around three years and cover approximately 200 sites across rural areas of the African nation.

Adtran, the US-based optical transport company, has opened distribution center in the northern English city of York. The 20,000-square-foot facility will, says Adtran, enable faster delivery of network components for Adtran's growing UK customer base.

Arcep, the French communications regulator, has appointed Ghislain Heude as director of its Fiber, Infrastructures and Territories department. Heude, who began his career with consulting firm Arthur Andersen, first joined Arcep in 2006 but went off to work for France's finance ministry and the RTE power transmission network before rejoining the regulator in 2021.

UK converged operator Virgin Media O2 says its collaboration with EkkoSense, a provider of AI-powered data center optimization software, has helped it make data-center-cooling energy savings worth in excess of £1 million ($1.3 million) per year.

Sparkle, the international services arm of Telecom Italia (TIM), has signed an agreement with the University of Genoa and the SubOptic Foundation which will see the three of them collaborate on initiatives to teach, research and innovate in the field of subsea communications. Among its main academic objectives is the setting up of the world's first postgraduate course on subsea fiber optics.