Eurobites: BT plays supply-chain 'war games' as China takes aim at Taiwan

Sweden's Tele2 says the European research project it led looking into how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to reduce energy consumption in mobile networks found that the application of the increasingly controversial technology can cut consumption by between 30-40% in the long term. According to Martina Lidman, Tele2's head of data and innovation, the operator's nationwide mobile network currently consumes as much electricity as all the households combined in a small city.

The German government plans to examine all Chinese-made components in the country's 5G network amid concerns that Chinese vendors' ties with the Beijing government could compromise the security of Germany's communications infrastructure. So says a report on Reuters, citing an interview with government minister Nancy Faeser that appeared in the Bild am Sonntag newspaper. Germany has come comparatively late to the China-paranoia party, but the increasing nervousness about the likes of Huawei and ZTE could prove costly for Deutsche Telekom and its rivals. (See Replacing Huawei's 80,000 5G antennas would cost Germany billions.)

Neil McRae, who stepped down from his role as BT's chief architect towards the end of last year, has resurfaced at US-based Juniper Networks as its chief network strategist. Whilst at BT, McRae worked with Juniper, building a number of networks using its platforms. (See BT shakes up tech org in push for simplification and security and Bring me wine and let robots run the BT network.)

Nokia will this week unveil a new multi-gig broadband access node aimed at operators trying to reach rural and low-density areas. The Lightspan DF-32GM comes in a "pizza-box" form and is powered by Nokia's Quillion chipset. It will be attracting admiring glances (or otherwise) at the FTTH convention in Madrid, which begins tomorrow (Tuesday).

UK lawmakers will today debate the proposed Data Protection and Digital Information Bill which if passed will, among other things, increase fines for nuisance calls/texts to either £17.5 million (US$21.7 million) or up to 4% of the offending company's global turnover, whichever is the greater. In a press release, the UK government's Department for Science, Innovation and Technology promised the bill would set out "common-sense led data laws and will give organisations greater flexibility to protect personal data, while maintaining high data protection standards."

Four Dutch communications service providers – Delta, KPN, T-Mobile and VodafoneZiggo – have jointly approached Eredivisie, the body that oversees top-tier soccer in the Netherlands, with a proposal for securing a TV rights deal that they say would make live domestic premier league soccer available to nearly all Dutch households. Eredivisie currently has a domestic soccer TV rights deal in place with ESPN.

Virgin Media O2 says a new study it commissioned shows that millions of UK consumers have fallen prey to a "smartphone swindle" because they don't realize that they are effectively still paying for phones they have already paid for in full. The company claims it's the only UK mobile network operator that automatically rolls its customers onto an airtime-only plan once their initial contract has run its course – unlike those meanies at EE, Three and Vodafone. According to the study, more than nine in ten Brits are unaware they could be charged for phones they've already paid for in this way.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading