Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Orange launches commercial 5G in Romania; Colt extends relationship with Microsoft; Hungary has no beef with Huawei.

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

November 5, 2019

2 Min Read
Eurobites: Telefónica's Transformation Costs Tarnish Its Q3

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Orange launches commercial 5G in Romania; Colt extends relationship with Microsoft; Hungary has no beef with Huawei.

  • Digital transformation is an expensive business: Restructuring costs (mainly in Spain) whacked Telefónica's net income in the third quarter, the Spain-based operator recording a loss of €443 million (US$492 million) on revenues that climbed 1.7% to €11.9 billion ($13.2 billion). The company laid claim to "solid performance" in its main markets, namely Spain, Brazil, Germany and the UK, with sales at the latter (trading under the O2 brand) up 4.1% year-on-year to £1.59 billion ($2.05 billion). José María Álvarez-Pallete, Telefónica's chairman and CEO, pledged in the earnings statement to make more efficient use of the company's networks by sharing them, and reiterated full-year guidance. (See Wake Up & Smell the Coffee, Telefónica.)

    • Orange has chosen Romania to be the first country within its footprint to launch a commercial 5G network, with the cities of Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca and Iasi being the first to benefit from the technology. Average download speeds of 600 Mbit/s are being promised, along with a range of features for customers, including unlimited Internet and access to the Deezer music service.

    • UK-based Colt Technology Services is extending its collaboration with Microsoft, being named as a launch partner for the Microsoft Azure Peering Service as well as joining the Azure Networking Managed Service Provider (MSP) Programme. The Azure Peering Service allows enterprises to benefit from a direct interconnection between Colt's IP Access offering and the public Microsoft Network without intermediate providers.

    • Hungary has no problem with Huawei playing a role in the building of its high-speed 5G network, and plans to allow the Chinese vendor to cooperate with Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom on the rollout, Reuters reports. (See Trump is losing the European war against Huawei.)

    • A new high-capacity fiber connection between Denmark and the Netherlands has been launched, providing a low-latency route for data traffic between the Nordics and western Europe. Called Cobra, the fiber link has been laid alongside a 325km high-voltage power cable that transports wind-generated power between Endrup in Denmark and Eemshaven in the Netherlands. Norwegian infrastructure company Tampnet is the first company to make use of this new connection.

    • UK altnet CityFibre is to deliver fiber to around 19,000 social housing properties in Scotland's capital, Edinburgh. CityFibre is working in partnership with Vodafone to provide initial broadband services over the network. (See Eurobites: CityFibre Secures £1.12B for Fiber Rollout.)

    • Deutsche Telekom has begun offering a service package to companies that have decided to go down the Apple Mac route for their IT needs. Deployment infrastructure, app development, Office 365 integration and flexible leasing are among the goodies being offered in the new enterprise package.

      — Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading

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About the Author(s)

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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