Eurobites: Nokia tests 600Gbit/s line rate with Telekom Serbia, MTELEurobites: Nokia tests 600Gbit/s line rate with Telekom Serbia, MTEL

In Africa, Liquid Intelligent Technologies has completed its acquisition of Telrad, an Israel-based software company. Telrad's areas of expertise include networking, cloud infrastructure and cybersecurity. Liquid Intelligent Technologies lays claim to a fiber broadband network covering over 100,000km. Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.

UK altnet CityFibre has named the next town on its rollout hitlist: It's Sittingbourne, a post-industrial town roughly halfway between London and the port of Dover. CityFibre will invest £9.5 million (US$11.4 million) in a new town-wide network as part of a wider investment in the region.

The BBC's iPlayer video streaming service enjoyed its best ever second quarter, with 1.6 billion streams logged between April and June of this year. High-profile live events in the UK such as the Glastonbury Festival and the various Platinum Jubilee shenanigans helped boost the numbers, as did blockbuster drama offerings such as Peaky Blinders and Sherwood.

The UK government is launching a new system that it hopes will simplify consumer access to so-called "social" (or discounted) broadband tariffs, the BBC reports. From August 22, those receiving certain welfare benefits can ask broadband companies to check their eligibility for social tariffs, removing the onus on consumers to prove their deserving status. Back in February, communications regulator Ofcom found that only 1.2% of more than 4.2 million households receiving Universal Credit (a type of benefit payment) had successfully applied for social broadband tariffs.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading