In related news, Telefónica UK (O2) has bagged the "Best Network for Coverage" gong in the Uswitch Broadband and Mobile awards for the fourth year in a row. O2-owned MVNO Giffgaff also landed "Network of the Year" in the awards, which are based on a survey of more than 10,000 people.

A village in northern France has issued a rebuff to tech entrepreneur Elon Musk by saying "non" to the proposed siting of Starlink's satellite Internet ground station on a nearby field. As France24 reports, Saint-Senier-de-Beuvron's municipal council said that they were refusing permission for the facility "as a precaution," with a number of locals expressing concern that it is an untried technology.

Dutch operator KPN has used its annual report to underline its green credentials, estimating that in the past year its customers jointly saved more than three times the amount of energy needed to keep KPN's network running by using the digital services over the network and cutting down drastically on the use of transport. According to KPN's calculations, its customers saved 277 million liters of fuel and avoided 3.7 billion kilometers in travel during 2020.

It's a case of déjà vu all over again for Matt Ward, who has rejoined Three UK as head of MVNO – a role he was originally appointed to in 2014 before heading off to be chief commercial officer at Lycamobile for a couple of years. Prior to 2014, he held a number of executive positions at Vodafone. Three has recently extended its MVNO deal with Dixons Carphone, for the electronics retailer's iD mobile brand.

Vodafone has launched the second round of its Bright Sparks startup support program, offering startups in Seed, pre-Series A or Series A funding stages the chance to gain access to Vodafone expertise and connection to a dedicated sponsor, among other things. Any bright sparks interested can download the application form here.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading