Eurobites: Be More European, EU Tells Streaming Services

The so-called "right to be forgotten" principle is still causing problems for Google (Nasdaq: GOOG). As the BBC reports, the search giant has appealed to the highest court in France against a €100,000 (US$112,000) fine for failing to delete certain search results from all its Google domains worldwide. Google maintains it has done enough by making it impossible for people within Europe to access the search results in question: France disagrees. (See Eurobites: EU Warns Google Over 'Right to Be Forgotten' Opportunism.)

Meanwhile, back in Brussels, the European Commission has been warning Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) and others that it is going to take an increasingly hard line on the shifting around of profits for tax "efficiency" reasons, reports Bloomberg. In a brain-hurting communique published on Thursday, the Commission set forth measures that it hopes will reduce EU member states' ability to issue rulings that ease the tax burden of foreign companies making money on their turf. (See Eurobites: EU Wants Tax Transparency From Tech Titans.)

BT Group plc (NYSE: BT; London: BTA) CEO Gavin Patterson may have to rein in some of his more exotic summer vacation plans following the news that he has missed out on part of his bonus package due to his company's failure to hit customer services targets last year. As the Financial Times reports (subscription required), moaning-minnie customers cost Patterson £290,000 ($422,543), reducing his bonus to something just north of £1 million ($1.45 million).

First-quarter revenues at Russia's Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (MTS) (NYSE: MBT) rose 7.9% year-on-year to 108.09 billion rubles ($1.63 billion), while net profits rose by a third to RUB14.50 billion ($217 million). One of the few black marks in the results was the operator's performance in Armenia, where revenue fell by more than 16%, due to "macroeconomic factors." (See Russia's MTS Knocks 5G as 'Vendor Game'.)

A delegation from European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association (ETNO) hopped across the Pond this week to learn more about policy and regulatory developments in the US, and in particular how they relate to telecom and technology innovation and investment. Representatives from Telefónica , Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT), Orange (NYSE: FTE), Telenor Group (Nasdaq: TELN) and Proximus joined the junket.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading