Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Belgium gets Orange Money service; Dutch antitrust watchdog jumps on Apple; TDC reigns supreme for mobile experience, says study.
Deutsche Telekom has done a deal with Eutelsat to distribute high-speed satellite broadband to households in the more remote parts of Germany. In service since November 2020, Eutelsat's Konnect satellite has a total capacity of 75 Gbit/s and is capable of offering speeds of up to 100 Mbit/s. Deutsche Telekom and France-based Eutelsat are currently piloting an initial deployment in the city of Heimerzheim, where the fixed network was badly affected by the catastrophic flooding earlier in the year. Eutelsat has already reached similar distribution agreements with Orange in France and TIM in Italy.
Belgium has become the second European country to play host to the Orange Money digital banking service, which is well established in Belgium and parts of Africa. The service, which is largely aimed at the Belgian diaspora, will be open to everyone, regardless of which operator's network they use.
ACM, the Dutch antitrust authority, has ordered Apple to stop forcing software developers to use the US giant's in-app payment system, according to a Reuters report. Apple's commission on such payments can be as much as 30%, the report adds. Match Group, which owns dating service Tinder, was one of a number of companies whose complaints prompted ACM's investigation.
A new study from Tutela has concluded that Denmark's TDC offers the "best mobile experience in the world," closely followed by T-Mobile Netherlands and Telenor Norway. In terms of countries, Denmark, Finland, South Korea, the Netherlands and Austria made up the top five for mobile experience. The picture for Europe's "big five" isn't too rosy, however: Germany came 25th, France 26th, Italy 27th, Spain 35th and the UK 37th.
Intel has signed a two-year research agreement with Connect, the research center that is part of Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. The project, which is funded to the tune of €600,000 (US$693,000), will focus on making passive optical networks (PONs) capable of supporting 5G wireless network cells and edge computing nodes in order to deliver new applications such as high-speed mobile streaming, augmented reality and autonomous driving.
UK altnet Hyperoptic is lending its support and connectivity to a project in the northern English city of Leeds that is aiming to boost the self-esteem of pre-teens and protect them from negative influences as they move into their secondary stage of education. The "Primary Choices" project is being delivered by the Leeds United Foundation and will run for three years, starting this month.
— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading
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