Nokia and Edzcom are to jointly set up a 5G standalone (SA) private wireless network for Konecranes at its Hyvinkää smart factory in Finland. Edzcom will deploy a private wireless and application platform based on Nokia's Digital Automation Cloud (DAC), a combination that Konecranes hopes will help it improve efficiency and "accelerate automation" at the factory.

Lycamobile, the UK-based MVNO that specializes in providing cheap international calls for expatriates wanting to phone home, has appointed Navanit Narayan as its new group CEO. Narayan, who has had stints at Nokia and Vodafone Idea, among other companies, is currently Lycamobile's chief operating officer.

Ericsson has bagged a design gong from the international Red Dot awards program for the third consecutive year – this time for its lightweight AIR 4435 antenna-integrated radio.

Nordic operator Tele2 has moved to the next phase of testing its autonomous 5G-connected food-delivery robot, Doora. This latest phase will see Doora trundling food orders to customers via the Foodora digital platform on the streets of central Stockholm. Figure 1: Not-so-fast food: Doora will trundle along at 6km/h.
(Source: Tele2)

A1 Telekom Austria Group has spent €42.2 million (US$50.8 million) acquiring chunks of spectrum in Slovenia, specifically 10MHz in 700MHz, 40MHz in 1.4GHz, 15MHz in 2.1GHz, 100MHz in 3.6GHz and 400MHz in 26GHz bands. The allocations are valid for 15 years.

Sky, the UK-based purveyor of pay-TV and more, has opened its first brick-and-mortar store in the UK, in the north-east city of Gateshead. The store, which Sky describes as a "new retail concept," brings together Sky Mobile, Sky Broadband and Sky TV under one roof. "Interactive experiences" will apparently be involved.

Clavister, a Swedish cybersecurity company, has found a berth for its 5G security offerings at an unidentified Latin American telco. The deal, which includes the NetShield firewall product, is worth around 6 million Swedish kroner ($714,000).

South Africa's Vodacom is combining with the African Union Development Agency to offer the mVacciNation digital toolbox – a mobile technology platform that manages vaccination appointments and stock availability – to accelerate the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in African Union member states. The platform has already been successfully deployed in Mozambique, Tanzania and Nigeria to manage infant inoculations.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading