Eurobites: EU accepts Apple concessions on opening up tap-to-payEurobites: EU accepts Apple concessions on opening up tap-to-pay

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: X in trouble for blue-tick mayhem, lack of transparency; G.Network exploring possible sale, says report; SoftBank buys Graphcore.

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

July 12, 2024

3 Min Read
Contactless payment on smartphone
(Source: Catmaster6000/Alamy Stock Photo)
  • The European Commission has accepted commitments from Apple on the opening up of its iPhone tap-to-pay technology to other suppliers of so-called "mobile wallets." In an earlier investigation, the Commission had concluded that Apple was abusing its dominant position in the market by refusing to supply the near-field-communication (NFC) input on iOS to competing mobile wallet developers, reserving access to it for the Apple Pay platform. In response, Apple agreed to allow third-party wallet providers access to the NFC input without having to use Apple Pay or Apple Wallet, using the Host Card Emulation (HCE) mode, among other commitments. The commitments will remain in place for ten years and apply throughout the European Economic Area, which includes the 27 EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway (but not the UK).

  • The European Commission is not having such warm feelings toward X, the social media platform normal people still call Twitter. The Commission has announced its "preliminary view" that X is in breach of the Digital Services Act and could therefore ultimately face a fine equivalent to 6% of its total worldwide annual turnover. The Commission found that the way X distributes its blue checkmarks for "verified" accounts deceives users, that it does not comply with the required transparency on advertising, fails to provide access to its public data and discourages eligible researchers from gaining access to its application programming interface (API). Over to you, Elon.

  • UK altnet G.Network, which claims to have passed 416,000 premises in London with its fiber rollout, is exploring a possible sale after being approached by potential buyers, according to a Sky News report citing unnamed City sources. CityFibre and Community Fibre are among the companies that have expressed an interest in buying the company, the report said. G.Network has declined to comment on the report.

  • Graphcore, a UK-based company specializing in chips for the growing-like-Topsy AI market, has been bought by Japan's SoftBank. The value of the deal has not been disclosed, though it is thought to be significantly less than the £2 billion (US2.6 billion) the UK company was valued at in 2020, according to a BBC report. "In SoftBank, we have a partner that can enable the Graphcore team to redefine the landscape for AI technology," said Graphcore co-founder and CEO Nigel Toon in a prepared statement. The company's headquarters will remain in the city of Bristol in southwest England.

  • Telefónica says that it has reused more than 19 million routers and set-top boxes since its blockchain-based recycling platform, VICKY, was implemented five years ago. The operator says it achieved an 88% collection rate of all equipment in 2023, moving closer to its target of 90% by the end of 2024.

  • Cellnex has landed the contract to bring multi-operator mobile coverage to two railway tunnels in Spain, namely tunnels 3 (Coll de Porta ) and 6 (Santa Linya I) of the rail line linking Lleida with La Pobla de Segur, using distributed antenna system (DAS) technology.

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Europe

About the Author

Paul Rainford

Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading

Paul is 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.

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

During the noughties Paul 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 accidentally sending text messages to strangers using a chipped Nokia feature phone.

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