Eurobites: Nokia wins 25G PON contract in Taiwan

Nokia has landed a 25G PON (passive optical network) deal in Taiwan, supplying broadband provider Homeplus with its fiber offering that is based on the Quillon chipset and the Lightspan FX platform. According to Nokia, Homeplus will be the first provider in Taiwan to provide residential and business 25G PON services, and will be able to offer download speeds that are 125 times faster than the national average.

BT has sent out a letter telling manufacturers, elevator-makers among them, to test their equipment ahead of the planned switchover from the old copper network to digital landlines. According to a Telegraph report (paywall applies), the CEO of BT Business, Bas Burger, told them: "We understand that your organisation is using technology that is still connected to the PSTN [Public Switched Telephone Network]. This might be a traditional landline, but it could also be anything from lift [elevator] alarms to medical equipment. As this ageing network becomes increasingly outdated and fragile, the risk to your critical services grows." The report said that there are around 300,000 elevators in the UK, around 180,000 of which are still thought to be linked to the old copper (or PSTN) network, so there is a risk of people being unable to trigger the alarm should they get stranded in a broken elevator. (See Eurobites: BT tweaks digital migration strategy and Eurobites: BT pauses 'Digital Voice' rollout after customer backlash.)

Romaric, which is part of Finland's Elisa group, has announced a partnership with Intel focused on factory automation. In a nutshell, Romaric's material-handling software will be integrated with Intel's industrial automation offerings, such as Factory Pathfinder, to provide more accurate ways of simulating industrial processes.

Streaming content on YouTube seems to be working well for UK broadcaster Channel 4, which reports that views of "full episode content" on the video-sharing platform are up 331% year-over-year. Channel 4 claims to be the only major UK broadcaster to increase viewing across its streaming and linear platforms in the first half of 2024.

Vodafone's Player.Connect platform, which helps athletes track a range of performance data, has been adopted by the men's British wheelchair basketball team and 30-time wheelchair tennis grand slam winner Alfie Hewett ahead of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, which start next week. Player.Connect was produced by the Vodafone IoT.nxt team, with the support of performance consultants who advised on the sport science side of things.