Eurobites: UK Vows to Keep EU Roaming Free Post Brexit

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Nokia shows off 8K UHD streaming over 5G; BT gives container port added backbone; 5G goes into the woods.

The government minister in charge of the UK's to-date shambolic exit from the European Union has said that free data roaming for UK citizens traveling within the EU will continue even after Britain has fled the EU coop. As the BBC reports, Dominic Raab said that mobile operators Vodafone and 3 have already committed to not re-imposing roaming charges after Brexit, and that, if necessary, a law would be passed to force other operators to follow suit. Brexit is supposed to officially take place on March 29, 2019, but with political uncertainty currently swirling around the whole issue, and Prime Minister Theresa May's position looking increasingly precarious, when it will actually happen is anyone's guess.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) and France Télévisions, the French national public TV broadcaster, are using the IBC show in Amsterdam this week to demonstrate what they say is the world's first 8K Ultra High Definition (UHD) TV streaming "in real conditions" over 5G. The 5G network used the Nokia AirScale radio access and AirFrame data center offering combination with the Velocix Content Delivery Network. But news of the demo comes as Nokia announces its sale of a majority stake in its video technology unit -- which includes the Velocix brand -- to Canadian investment firm Volaris, a move that echoes Ericsson's sale of its 51% stake in its media solutions business just a few months ago. (See Just Like Ericsson, Nokia Flogs Majority Stake in Its Video Biz.).

BT Group plc (NYSE: BT; London: BTA) has delivered a wireless backbone network for one of Europe's busiest container terminals, Antwerp Gateway in Belgium. The network, based on Rajant's Kinetic Mesh technology, forms part of the "digital transformation" of the terminal, which handles 2.5 million containers every year, and 3,000 trucks every day.

If you go down to the woods today… you might find Telia Company testing the use of augmented reality and 5G technology in the forestry industry, particularly if you happened to be in the vicinity of Stora Enso's Oulu mill in Finland. The pair are using the technology to provide more real-time mill maintenance information, among other applications.

Stina Andersson is to leave her job as executive vice president for strategy and business development at Sweden's Tele2 AB (Nasdaq: TLTO) following the completion of the operator's merger with cable firm Com Hem AB . Andersson is planning to "pursue new opportunities," though what those opportunities are is yet to be revealed.

Ireland's Openet Telecom Ltd. has unveiled a new data intelligence platform that it claims can make the storage, processing, analysis and management of disparate data easier for operator business units. Openet Data Fabric, as the new release is called, will be available on a free license basis.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading