Eurobites: UK ad authority raps providers for price-rise obfuscation

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: EU earmarks €865 million for connectivity projects; Nokia gets industrial; VEON launches entertainment platform in Uzbekistan.

Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe

October 9, 2024

2 Min Read
BT Group companies BT, EE and Plusnet all came in for criticism from the ASA.(Source: BT)
  • The UK's Advertising Standards Authority has rapped the knuckles of several big-name communications service providers over their failure to alert consumers to mid-contract price rises on their mobile and broadband packages. BT, EE, Plusnet, O2 and Virgin Media all got the treatment, being told that they did not display the required information clearly enough on their websites, and that the ads must not appear again in their current form. Mid-contract price rises, particularly those based on a weird inflation-plus-3.9% formula, have long been a concern to UK regulators, and earlier this year Ofcom ruled that all UK operators will have to advise customers of any mid-contract price rises upfront in simple pounds-and-pence terms from January 1, 2025. (See Eurobites: Ofcom bans inflation-linked mid-contract price rises and UK operators cannot clearly explain inflation-plus-3.9% price rises.)

  • The European Commission has announced €865 million (US$948 million) of funding from 2024 to 2027 for a range of connectivity projects within the bloc, including those looking to improve 5G infrastructure and backbone networks. In EU-speak, the projects come under the scope of the second work program for the Connecting Europe Facility - (CEF) Digital, which is intended to spur 5G and broadband investment in Europe. CEF Digital is part of the overall Connecting Europe Facility program, which supports investment in trans-European digital, transport and energy networks, worth €33.7 billion from 2021 to 2027.

  • Nokia is targeting the industrial sector with new devices and the integration of more applications onto its MX Industrial Edge (MXIE) platform as it seeks to improve worker safety in sometimes hazardous environments. New devices include a "rugged" 5G tablet and push-to-talk handheld device; applications include the marvellously named Fogsphere, which is described as a multi-modal AI platform to enhance workplace safety, security and operational intelligence.

  • Amsterdam-headquartered VEON has launched a new digital entertainment platform in Uzbekistan. Called Kinom, it offers more than 130 channels of linear TV, as well as on-demand movies and TV series. The platform delivers Full HD streaming on Apple and Android smartphones, smart TVs or PCs.

  • AssetHUB, a centralized marketplace for the buying and selling of telecom assets, connectivity and services in the UK, has teamed up with Cooperative Network Infrastructure (CNI) to allow public and private sector organizations to more easily share assets such as fiber, ducts, Ethernet and street furniture. Both organizations have also been jointly working with the Independent Network Cooperative Association (INCA) to encourage altnets to share physical infrastructure.

  • Stancer, the fintech division of French operator Iliad, has entered into a strategic partnership with BoursoBank in France. The tie-up gives Boursobank's business customers special access to Stancer's online and point-of-sale payment services.

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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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