Eurobites: Bouygues loses €2B roaming case

The European Court of Justice has told the EU's General Court that it must look again at the case of the failed acquisition of O2 by Three UK, which the European Commission blocked in 2016. O2 initially challenged the Commission's decision before the General Court, winning that case. It is this judgement that the Court of Justice has annulled. Ultimately, of course, O2's owner, Telefónica, moved on from the failed merger with Three to create a fully "converged" operator with Virgin Media, so what these latest legal shenanigans are all about is anyone's guess. (See O2-Three UK merger probably should have been allowed and Eurobites: EU vetoes O2/3 combo.)

One thing this latest EU legal backtrackery has done is elicit a response from the ever-vigilant European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association (ETNO), which sees the Court of Justice's judgement as serving to underline ETNO's case that European telcos need more certainty in their lives and that "competition remains key to future network investment."

Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, may force streaming services such as Prime and Netflix to do more to make their content accessible to everyone, including those with hearing disorders or neurological conditions. The suggestion comes as Ofcom launches a consultation on changes to its TV Access Services Code, which covers such areas as subtitles, signing and audio description.

Ericsson and chipmaker MediaTek are trumpeting what they describe as a new technology milestone for the fixed wireless access (FWA) market, namely achieving a "record-setting" 565Mbit/s upload speed through single-user MIMO and carrier aggregation technology running on MediaTek's T830 CPE platform. For the demo, a 2.1GHz FDD (frequency division duplex) band was combined with a 3.5GHz TDD (time division duplex) band.

The green credentials of BT have been recognized by German giant Bosch, which has presented the UK incumbent operator with a Global Supplier Award in the "Sustainability" category. BT has committed to becoming a net zero carbon emissions company by 2031. (See The greenwashing of telecom.)

A charity that supports older people financially and in other ways says that 48% of older people in England on a low income have struggled to pay their broadband bill in the last six months, and almost one in ten of them have already cancelled broadband and phone services in an effort to save money. Independent Age says the findings of the study, which it commissioned from polling company YouGov, suggest that the cost-of-living crisis in the UK has deepened the so-called digital divide. The charity warns that older people facing financial hardship may become more isolated and incur additional costs if they are forced offline.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading