Meanwhile, in another dusty corner of the European Commission, the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party has offered its opinion of the so-called Privacy Shield framework, that was supposed to replace the discredited Safe Harbor arrangements for the transfer of personal data from the EU to the US. While welcoming some of the changes introduced by Privacy Shield, it believes that there is still an "overall lack of clarity," and that some "key data protection principles" have not been reflected in the new framework. (See Eurobites: 'Safe Harbor' Heads for Calmer Waters and Eurobites: Facebook Faces Privacy Class Action.)

Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT) has reached agreement with the Verdi labor union on a pay deal for its 70,000 workers in Germany, reports Reuters. Workers will receive a 2.2% pay increase, backdated to April 1, 2016, and a further 2.1% rise next year, as well as job security until the end of 2018.

Separately, the German giant has teamed up with private investment firm Centerbridge to bid for Tipico, an online betting operator, reports Casino News Daily. Deutsche Telekom already owns 64% of Deutsche Sportwetten, another gambling operator.

Orange Egypt has tapped NEC Corp. (Tokyo: 6701) for LTE backhaul. The Japanese vendor will supply its iPasolink E-band microwave radio system. Part of the attraction for Orange, apparently, was the system's resistance to salt damage in coastal areas.

OpenCloud Ltd. , based in Cambridge, UK, has revealed the results of a survey that indicates strong operator demand for a converged service layer (CSL) architecture that can deliver real-time voice and video-calling independently of the access network technology. The survey was carried out for OpenCloud by Heavy Reading , the market research arm of Light Reading.

Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) has landed a video processing deal with NBC for coverage of this summer's Olympic Games in Rio. The Swedish vendor will help deliver HD broadcast to millions of US viewers, offering MPEG compression, among other services.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading