Eurobites: EE, Virgin Media Fined £13.3M for Early-Exit Excesses

MTN Group Ltd. and Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) are carrying out what they claim is South Africa's first 5G customer trial, at the headquarters of technology company Netstar in Midrand, which is located between Johannesburg and Pretoria. The trial system operates on the 28GHz band, with a total operating bandwidth of 100MHz using Ericsson trial antenna integrated radio units and Intel's 5G Mobile Trial Platform providing fixed wireless access in the customer premises.

Orange (NYSE: FTE)'s CFO has told a conference in Barcelona that there will be a "window of opportunity" for consolidation in the French market in the first half of 2019, once the reallocation of frequency bands is completed at the end of this year. As Reuters reports, Ramon Fernandez said that Orange would not seek to drive a merger, but suggested that his company could be a "facilitator" for consolidation. Back in 2016 Orange attempted a €10 billion ($11.4 billion) takeover of French rival Bouygues Telecom, but the two companies failed to reach an agreement. (See End of the Bouygues Affair for Orange.)

Telia Company has agreed to buy AinaCom Oy, a Finnish IT services company that has around 60 employees and (in 2017) net sales of €15.5 million ($17.5 million). The operator hopes that the acquisition will give it more clout in the enterprise services market. Telia already owns AinaCom's consumer business and fixed networks, thanks to a deal in 2014. Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading