Eurobites: Telia plans 5G corridors for robo-trucking

Nordic operator Telia is planning to set up 150km of 5G transport corridors between significant industrial and technology clusters in Sweden to test and develop systems for connected and autonomous vehicles, such as self-driving electric trucks. The corridors, says Telia, will connect controlled test areas with public roads and enable vehicles to switch between local dedicated mobile networks and the public 5G network. Full-scale tests are scheduled to start in the second quarter of 2024. The project forms part of the NorthStar innovation program and is co-funded by the EU.

Telefónica is contemplating the sale of its technology unit, Telefónica Tech, according to a Bloomberg report (paywall applies) citing unidentified sources. The report says that any deal struck could value the company at more than €2 billion (US$2.1 billion).

Vodafone and Docomo have published a joint white paper which they hope sets a "clear path" to the promise of greater automation associated with open RAN. The gist of the 16-page document is that greater standardization of the interfaces between existing parts of the network and the O-RAN Alliance-specified Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) platform is the key to unlocking the potential benefits of the technology.

After its annual gathering in Vienna this week the European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association (ETNO) has announced its strategy for 2024 which, it's fair to say, doesn't contain anything that will frighten the horses. It intends, among other blather, to focus on Europe and "support a policy positioning fit for the age of network virtualization." It doesn't specifically mention banging on about how Big Tech should be paying its "fair share" of network costs, but you can be sure that will get an airing before the year is out.  (See Eurobites: ETNO, GSMA lean on EU (again) and Eurobites: European telecom sounds its 'fair share' foghorn once more.)

The UK's data regulator has issued a preliminary enforcement notice against Snap, the company behind the Snapchat messaging platform, over its "potential failure" to properly assess the privacy risks posed by its generative AI chatbot, "My AI." The Information Commissioner's Office provisionally found the risk assessment Snap conducted before it launched My AI in February did not adequately assess the data protection risks posed by the technology, particularly to children.

Senegal is refusing to lift its ban on TikTok, a ban it imposed in August in the belief that the video-sharing platform was being used to distribute "hateful and subversive messages." As Reuters reports, Senegalese authorities want the company that owns TikTok, ByteDance, to sign an agreement that would allow for the creation of a mechanism to remove accounts.