Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: BT teams up with Qio on AI for sustainability; Three UK piggybacks on Currys; Eir sees EBITDA fall 7% in Q1.

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

May 19, 2022

3 Min Read
Eurobites: Nokia extends private networks range

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: BT teams up with Qio on AI for sustainability; Three UK piggybacks on Currys; Eir sees EBITDA fall 7% in Q1.

  • Nokia has the private wireless network sector firmly in its sights today with two new product launches. MX Boost combines disparate radio technologies, such as Wi-Fi and 4.9G/LTE, to achieve what the vendor says is "the best possible reliability and performance for demanding Industry 4.0 use cases." The software uses algorithms and real-time link testing to deliver a combined radio stream to boost throughput in challenging radio conditions. Nokia's second offering is the Digital Automation Cloud Wi-Fi Solution, which, says the vendor, unites Wi-Fi 6 and 6E for connecting non-business critical use cases and private 4.9G/LTE and 5G to support critical Industry 4.0 applications. Organizations will be able to tap into license-free spectrum to augment their private networks and support non-business-critical workflows.

    • BT has teamed up with AI specialist Qio Technologies to unveil a new AI-powered "edge compute" offering, which the telco says can help business customers achieve their sustainability targets by optimizing energy use across their operations. The software does this, says BT, by bringing together real-time data from IoT sensors, machinery control settings, databases, external data and energy sources to identify the variables that can be optimized to reduce energy consumption.

    • Mobile operator Three UK is to enlist the help of Currys, the electronics retailer, to help it target the business market. Three will use space within Currys' 300-plus stores and Currys' direct sales teams to market its business services.

    • Irish operator Eir saw first-quarter EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) fall 7% year-on-year, to €144 million (US$151 million), on revenue that was up 2%, to €303 million ($318 million). Encouragingly, the operator's postpaid mobile base increased by 9%, to 909,000 customers, while its fiber base was up 3%, to 831,000 customers. Eir described the results as being in line with expectations.

    • The Spanish data protection agency has fined Google €10 million ($10.5 million) for transferring personal data to third parties unlawfully and for "hindering the exercise of the right to erasure," better known as the "right to be forgotten." The case relates to Google's communication of data to the Lumen Project, a database that studies cease and desist letters concerning online content.

    • Picocom, headquartered in Bristol, UK, is collaborating with US firm Radisys on 5G open RAN platforms based on Picocom's PC802 small cell system-on-chip (SoC) and Radisys' Connect RAN 5G software.

    • Telefónica has agreed to sell its 7.08% stake in Prisa, the publisher of Spanish newspaper El Pais, for €34 million ($35.7 million). As Reuters reports, Telefónica will retain a 1.95% stake in Prisa.

    • Openreach, the semi-autonomous network access arm of UK incumbent operator BT, is supporting its fiber rollout by signing up to an apprenticeships scheme in Birmingham, the UK's second largest city. Called Ladder for Greater Birmingham, the initiative aims to create thousands of new apprenticeships across Birmingham and neighboring Solihull. Openreach already employs more than 3,200 people across the region.

      — Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading

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About the Author(s)

Paul Rainford

Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading

Paul is based on the Isle of Wight, a rocky outcrop off the English coast that is home only to a colony of technology journalists and several thousand puffins.

He has worked as a writer and copy editor since the age of William Caxton, covering the design industry, D-list celebs, tourism and much, much more.

During the noughties Paul took time out from his page proofs and marker pens to run a small hotel with his other half in the wilds of Exmoor. There he developed a range of skills including carrying cooked breakfasts, lying to unwanted guests and stopping leaks with old towels.

Now back, slightly befuddled, in the world of online journalism, Paul is thoroughly engaged with the modern world, regularly firing up his VHS video recorder and accidentally sending text messages to strangers using a chipped Nokia feature phone.

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