Eurobites: Deutsche Telekom Can Hike Its Last-Mile Charges – RegulatorEurobites: Deutsche Telekom Can Hike Its Last-Mile Charges – Regulator

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: ETNO's vision of telecom loveliness; Three updates on core network upgrade; how Tele2 saved a ton of electricity.

Paul Rainford

April 11, 2019

2 Min Read

Eurobites: Deutsche Telekom Can Hike Its Last-Mile Charges – Regulator

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: ETNO's vision of telecom loveliness; Three updates on core network upgrade; how Tele2 saved a ton of electricity.The Germany telecom and utilities regulator, BNetzA, has told Deutsche Telekom that it can raise the fees it charges rival operators for access to its last-mile infrastructure. As Reuters reports, the regulator told DT that, as from July 2019, it could increase charges to €11.19 (US$12.62) per month, up from the current €10.02 ($11.30). The proposal is, however, subject to the approval of the European Commission and other national regulators.DT has its own good news to impart too: The operator says its "super vectoring" buildout, which uses vectoring technology to soup up existing copper lines, has now provided 20 million households and business locations with lines offering downlink speeds of up to 250 Mbit/s. In the past four weeks alone, DT says it has provided such enhanced connectivity to more than 1.5 million households and businesses.The European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association (ETNO) has outlined its "vision for co-creating Europe's tech leadership," a rallying cry which seems to boil down to a plea for collaboration, investment, responsible data handling and not too much regulation in the European telecom industry as the 5G era hoves into view. No surprises there, then…UK mobile operator Three has been updating the waiting world on the progress of its core network upgrade, revealing that its second live 5G site in London went live in February, with the Central Saint Martins art college joining 3's own Oxford Street store as a testbed, making it possible to stage the world's first 5G mixed reality catwalk. (That's progress that is, right there.) This month Three has also increased the number of users taking part in a staff trial of the new systems. The operator expects to start rolling out 5G services to its customers in the second half of the year, with Huawei providing Three's first 5G-compatible smartphone.Sweden's Tele2 claims it has managed to reduce power consumption by 2.3GWh per year in the 4G network that it jointly operates with Telenor Sweden following its participation in an international research project called "SOOGreen." The saving was achieved by optimizing active frequencies in the network based on usage -- hence "service oriented optimization" (SOO). Having cracked that, Tele2 is now moving on to a new project, "AIGreen," which, as its name suggests, focuses on how the use of artificial intelligence can reduce energy consumption.Further afield, Uruguayan state-owned operator Antel has installed what its network technology vendor of choice, Finnish giant Nokia, claims is the first 5G commercial network in Latin America. The first 5G basestations are operational in the Maldonado region of the country.— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading

About the Author(s)

Paul Rainford

Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading

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

During the nougthies he 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 sending text messages to strangers using a chipped Nokia feature phone.

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