Eurobites: UK competition authority pauses app-store probe

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has for the time being abandoned its investigations into Apple and Google over the suspected abuse of their respective market dominance in the iOS and Android app store environments, deciding instead to wait for a new digital markets competition regime to be implemented in the wake of the passing of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA) in May. The CMA's case against the two tech giants centered on rules that require app developers offering digital content to use Google's or Apple's own billing systems for in-app purchases, which the CMA believes may limit developers' choice of payment platform and make it more difficult for them to deal directly with their customers. (See Eurobites: CMA puts mobile 'ecosystems' under the microscope.)

Solidium, Finland's state holding company, has reported a strong set of second-quarter earnings, partly as a result of Nokia's "favourable price developments," according to a report on Finnish website YLE. Last year, the Finnish state earned €1.6 billion (US$1.78 billion) in revenues from its various corporate holdings, the report adds.

In actual Nokia news, the Finnish vendor has teamed up with Axiom Space, a US-based provider of, as it says on its website, "human spaceflight services," to enable high-speed cellular connectivity in next-generation lunar spacesuits to be used for the forthcoming Artemis III lunar mission. Such connectivity, it is hoped, will enhance crew-to-crew communications and offer the ability to more easily capture and transmit high-definition video with Earth in real time. Nokia plans to deploy the first cellular network on the moon as part of Intuitive Machines' IM-2 mission, which is scheduled to be delivered to the launch site later this year.

France and Spain are Europe's worst sufferers when it comes to phone-based scams, according to a new report from Hiya, the Seattle-based voice security company. France has a "spam flag rate" of 53%, while Spain is slightly less targeted, on 51%. On average, says Hiya, French and Spanish residents receive more than 12 nuisance or fraud calls each month. In the UK, meanwhile, which has a spam flag rate of 28%, residents are particularly under attack from phone-based fraudsters purporting to be calling from HMRC, the UK's main income tax authority.

Arcep, the French communications regulator, is looking for a new board member following the resignation of Maya Bacache to take up a new position elsewhere. To respect gender parity, any applicant for the three-year role needs to be a woman. The closing date for applications is September 6.

The Vodafone Foundation's emergency services app, NG-SOS, has been downloaded 4 million times and supported 200,000 emergency calls across Europe since its introduction, says Vodafone. NG-SOS provides the emergency services with accurate information about the caller by sending their location, medical profile, next-of-kin contacts, mobile battery status and more, enabling a more efficient response which can help save lives. The app currently serves people in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Austria; it will soon be launching in the German state of Bavaria too.