Sky Mobile has launched in Ireland, riding on Vodafone's network and offering what it calls a "Price for Life" plan, under which customers get unlimited calls, texts and 5G data for €15 (US$16.57) per month, for life. For €5 less, Sky is also offering a 10GB plan. The new MVNO is launching with a range of handsets from Samsung, Xiaomi and HMD – though there is no mention of Apple in the mix. It claims it will provide more than 99% 4G coverage and 5G coverage across the country.

Ericsson-owned Vonage has struck a deal with SAP, under the terms of which Vonage will provide the Germany-based enterprise software giant with access to network APIs from its communications platform-as-a-service (CPaaS), including quality-on-demand (QoD), device location and number verification. The two companies also plan to explore the potential of generative AI for their products and services.

The recently installed center-right Portuguese government has opted to keep the previous administration's ban on telcos using Chinese gear in their 5G networks, Reuters reports. Last September, Huawei filed a lawsuit against the ban, which had been put in place by Portugal's CSSC cybersecurity board.

Paris-based Eutelsat has launched Sat.tv Connect, an application for connected TV sets that have an integrated satellite tuner. Sat.tv Connect is part of a hybrid configuration, combining access to live, free-to-air TV channels via satellite, in high resolution, with additional connected services via the Internet. It combines two interactive TV technology standards, HbbTV, which is already present in many brand-name TV sets, and DVB-I, the more recently introduced standard that aims to simplify the interface for live and on-demand TV.

Liquid Intelligent Technologies has upgraded its 1,300km fiber link between Mombasa, in Kenya, and Busia, on the Ugandan border. The upgrade, says Liquid, allows it to offer "99.99% uptime availability" of services on the link.

Amazon plans to invest £8 billion ($10.4 billion) in the building of several data centers in the UK over the next five years, claiming the monster-shed rollout program will support the equivalent of more than 14,000 full-time jobs and contribute £14 billion ($18.3 billion) to the UK's GDP through to 2028. Construction, facility maintenance, engineering and telecommunications-related jobs are among those up for grabs.

Telecom Italia (TIM) has launched a non-binding bid for the remnants of BT Italia, according to a Reuters report. BT's foray into Italy has not proved a wholly enjoyable one – an accounting scandal that came to light at its Italian unit in 2017 caused the UK-based operator to slash its earnings forecast and ditch its firm of auditors, PwC. (See Dodgy Italian job savages BT earnings, share price tanks.)

Sweden's Enea has won certification from VMware for its traffic management software. Specifically, its dual-mode 5G Service Engine (5G-SE) – which helps communications service providers create network capacity, improve subscribers' download speeds, monetize data traffic and prevent fraud – was officially pronounced a "VMware Ready for Telco Cloud solution."

Marco Patuano, the current CEO of Cellnex and former big cheese at Telecom Italia, has been appointed chair of the European Wireless Infrastructure Association (EWIA). Patuano succeeds Tobías Martínez Gimeno, who stepped down at the end of August after four years in the role. The EWIA comprises nine towercos who operate across 16 European countries.

UK broadband provider Quickline has opted for Adtran's XGS-PON-based Mosaic CP and software-defined access hardware to help it bring full-fiber connectivity to rural parts of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.