Eurobites: OneWeb signs US coverage deal with IP Access International

OneWeb, the satellite broadband company co-owned by the UK government and Bharti Global, has signed a distribution agreement with IP Access International to deliver low Earth orbit (LEO) connectivity across the US. Under the terms of the deal, IP Access will blend OneWeb's satellite services with all the major terrestrial cellular providers in the US, providing mobile communications through a single service plan and support center. According to OneWeb, the partnership makes its LEO satellite constellation the first to be integrated with IP Access's SuperGig service, which combines terrestrial and space-based networks for public safety and enterprise-critical mobile operations.

Ericsson and chip firm MediaTek have joined forces to demonstrate the capability of Ericsson's Reduced Capability (RedCap) RAN software for applications where super-duper high speeds are not a priority but long battery life is, such as wearables, sensors and industrial surveillance cameras. The test took place at an Ericsson lab in Sweden using pre-commercial RedCap software and MediaTek's RedCap testing platform. It involved an FDD data call, which achieved a throughput speed of 220 Mbit/s for downlink and 74 Mbit/s for uplink, and the partners also carried out a TDD data call that reached a downlink speed of 153 Mbit/s and uplink speed of 13.5 Mbit/s.

The Italian government and US private equity firm KKR are in talks to set the terms of a state-backed bid for Telecom Italia's landline grid, according to a Reuters report citing anonymous sources. Earlier this year, Telecom Italia's board of directors agreed to grant a period of exclusivity to KKR, which made a non-binding offer for the operator's fixed assets, currently known as NetCo. (See TIM seeks balance as plan to offload fixed assets inches ahead.)

Liquid Dataport, which is part of Africa's Liquid Intelligent Technologies group, says it is seeing a surge of Internet traffic on its new Equiano cable following breaks in the WACS and SAT-3 subsea cable systems last weekend that reduced Internet speeds in South African to a crawl. The breaks were caused by a rockfall in the Congo Canyon. (See WACS, SAT-3 undersea cable breaks slow SA's Internet.)

Mobile operator Three UK has launched a new device management offering for the business market based on software from US firm Ivanti. The service, supported by security management specialist CWSI, is intended to enable businesses to easily "onboard" devices and configure them over the cloud with all the apps, settings, security and general gubbins required.

Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, has been taking a look at how video-sharing platforms such as TikTok and Twitch present their user policies – and it is fair to say it is not impressed. The reading level required to comprehend the policies was in most cases way higher than that of the youngest users allowed on the platform. OnlyFans won the prize for the longest terms-of-service tract – 16,000 words, which Ofcom reckoned would take its adult users over an hour to read, should they have the inclination.

John Lewis, the iconic but ailing British retailer, is migrating its systems to Google Cloud, City A.M. reports, in a move it hopes will enable it to perform better on the digital front using AI, machine learning and the like. John Lewis – motto: "Never knowingly undersold" – has already shut 16 loss-making department stores and reduced head office costs as it seeks to compete with leaner rivals, particularly in the online arena.