Eurobites: OBS Buys Basefarm to Reap Multicloud Benefits

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: CityFibre thinks there's been a broadband con-trick; Ericsson trumpets 5G breakthrough with Telstra; MegaFon delists from London.

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

July 16, 2018

3 Min Read
Eurobites: OBS Buys Basefarm to Reap Multicloud Benefits

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: CityFibre thinks there's been a broadband con-trick; Ericsson trumpets 5G breakthrough with Telstra; MegaFon delists from London.

  • Orange Business Services has agreed to buy Basefarm Holding, a Nordic cloud services and analytics company, for €350 million (US$410.2 million). Basefarm recorded revenues of more than €100 million ($117.2 million) in 2017, and employs 550 people. OBS hopes the acquisition will strengthen its hand in the increasingly important multicloud services market. The transaction is scheduled to close in the third quarter of 2018, subject to the usual approvals.

    • UK altnet CityFibre has commissioned research which it claims shows that British broadband customers are being misled when it comes to fiber connectivity. According to the research, 65% of those surveyed didn't think their current connection relied on copper cables or hybrid copper-fiber, even though this is the case for most consumers, while 24% believe they already have fiber cables running all the way to their homes, even though true FTTH is only available to 3% of UK properties. The research was commissioned to give CityFibre ammunition as it takes the Advertising Standards Authority to court over its ruling that "fiber" is not a misleading way of describing hybrid copper-fiber connections. Greg Mesch, CEO of CityFibre, has also taken the opportunity to write to the CEOs of the UK's major broadband providers, accusing them of leaving people "totally confused about what they are paying for" and "undermining trust in the industry." (See Eurobites: CityFibre Attacks Watchdog's 'Fake Fiber' Ruling and Eurobites: UK UBB Providers Cry Foul Over 'Phony Fiber'.)

    • Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) its trumpeting its role in what its backers claim is the world's first end-to-end 5G non-standalone (NSA) 3GPP data call on a commercial mobile network. The call, which also drew on the expertise of Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC), took place at Telstra Corp. Ltd. (ASX: TLS; NZK: TLS)'s 5G Innovation Centre on Australia's Gold Coast. Ericsson's contribution comprised the vendor's Baseband 6630, AIR 6488 and 4G/5G system software. The breakthrough follows a lab-based call on July 6, involving Ericsson, Intel, Telstra and other 5G service providers.

    • Russian mobile operator MegaFon is to delist from the London exchange, Reuters reports.

    • Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) is developing and testing its own smart TV in a bid to push the uptake of its Prime Video service in the UK, according to the Daily Telegraph. A group of Chinese manufacturers that includes Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd is also involved in the project, the report adds.

    • Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK)'s NetGuard Identity Access Manager software has been chosen by Nordic operator Telia to improve security in its internal Swedish and Finnish networks which between them connect around 10,000 employees. The software will, among other things, help Telia comply with the demands of the new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

    • UK cloud services provider Exponential-e Ltd. has migrated 200 Guinness World Records employees to Microsoft Office 365, in a move that it hopes will help it deliver "engaging experiences" and take advantage of market opportunities around the world. This is not the first piece of work Exponential-e has done for the world-record-chronicling organization; previously it has supplied private connectivity between UK data centers and Guinness World Records' Beijing office, among other services.

      — Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading

Read more about:

EuropeAsia

About the Author

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.

Subscribe and receive the latest news from the industry.
Join 62,000+ members. Yes it's completely free.

You May Also Like