Deutsche Telekom is also expanding its partnership with RingCentral, the US-based company specializing in workplace collaboration or "unified communications" software. The two companies will offer something called "RingCentral X powered by Telekom" to customers large and small. According to Deutsche Telekom, this will provide them with "a secure, reliable, and flexible solution for cloud-based enterprise communications and collaboration in Germany."

UK-based Colt Technology Services is claiming an industry first with its deployment of 800G technology in the L-band across a terrestrial network. This was achieved using Ciena’s Reconfigurable Line System (RLS), WaveLogic 5 Extreme coherent optics, and Manage, Control and Plan (MCP) domain controller. The Colt IQ Network comprises more than 29,000 on-net buildings and over 900 data centers across Europe, Asia and North America.

Ericsson has been adding to its RAN and edge product ranges, introducing seven new RAN goodies that put the focus on energy efficiency and its Edge Exposure Server, which the Swedish vendor says provide "network exposure capabilities to support simple and developer-friendly APIs to edge application ecosystems."

Belgium's Proximus saw fourth-quarter group EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) fall 3.8% year-on-year, to €409 million (US$464 million), on revenue that rose 3.8%, to €1.44 billion ($1.63 billion). During the quarter, Proximus recorded 19,000 net fiber activations, which was more than double last year's equivalent figure. The operator's 2021 guidance was achieved on all metrics.

Ice Group and its subsidiary AINMT Holdings have agreed to sell the Norway-based Ice Group Scandinavia Holdings to Lyse for 3 billion Norwegian kroner ($335.6 million). The deal lays to rest a loan-related dispute between AINMT and GoldenTree Asset Management.

VEON, the Amsterdam-headquartered but Russia-focused operator, has negotiated a 30 billion Russian ruble ($400 million) loan on a seven-year term with VTB Bank. VEON says the loan will "be used for general corporate purposes, including the financing of intercompany loans to PJSC VimpelCom."

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading