Eurobites: KPN bags challenger Youfone for €200M

UK mobile operator EE is installing more than 125 network upgrades on temporary 4G and 5G mobile masts at various sites this summer to help meet the extra demand generated by the many music festivals and other events. Those potentially enjoying the beefed-up network include folk braving the Glastonbury Festival, which kicked off on Thursday and is playing host to seven additional masts across its 900-acre site.

Skyvera, which is part of Danielle Royston's TelcoDR empire, says it has successfully migrated nearly half a million customers of a "leading" (but unidentified) Eastern European telecom provider to its cloud-native digital BSS/OSS software in just two months. (See TelcoDR to go strictly virtual at MWC 2022 as Ericsson returns.)

Telenor has chosen voice-over-LTE technology from Working Group Two (WG2) to provide voice services to its IoT customers for applications such as smart elevators, elderly monitoring and car emergency/helpline calls. WG2's VoLTE technology has been integrated with Telenor's internal systems, as well as to relevant service partners' platforms.

Deutsche Telekom's apparent desire not to upset Huawei has drawn fire from Michael Kovrig, the Canadian former diplomat who was held in a Chinese prison for two and a half years seemingly as a political bargaining chip following the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Canada in 2018. Referring to a Light Reading article quoting comments made by Deutsche Telekom CEO Timotheus Höttges, Kovrig tweeted: "DT's Höttges worries that ending the use of #Huawei equipment for national security reasons could result in China retaliating against German companies. Is fear of punishment a sensible, virtuous or courageous basis for doing business?"

Airties, the France-based Wi-Fi specialist, has appointed company founder Metin Taskin as co-CEO alongside recently appointed Guillame van Gaver. Prior to his time at Airties, Taskin held various high-level engineering positions at Cisco.

BT has landed a new managed Wi-Fi contract with the British Army covering 162 sites across the UK. The five-year deal is intended to pave the way for the rollout of "smart bases" across the country, enabling sites to improve the digital experience for military personnel, enhance security with smart surveillance and intelligent building entry systems, and maximize building occupancy for more efficient energy consumption.

Sky has introduced Sky Live to owners of its Sky Glass TVs, a Zoom-like feature that allows them to see and hear family and friends alongside whatever they are watching on their big screen. Sounds like it could have been a winner during the COVID-19 pandemic but, a year or so on, are people still craving this type of online communion?

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading