In a related move, Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT) has introduced what it says is Europe's "first data flat rate" for smart devices on the Internet of Things. Under this system, customers pay a "lifetime fee" of €10 (US$12.21) and receive a data flat rate of up to 500MB for the ten-year service life of each smart device, rather than shelling out on a monthly basis. The "1 NCE" offer applies to EU countries, as well as Switzerland and Norway.

The German incumbent has also been working with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd on trialing 5G on 73GHz mmWave technology at Deutsche Telekom's campus in Bonn. According to Dr. Wen Tong, Huawei's Wireless CTO, the trial showed that the so-called E-band technology can achieve "unprecedented fiber-like speed for mobile broadband access" and that, combined with MIMO, can deliver "exceptional user experience in a full multi-call campus environment."

In other 5G news, Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) has teamed up with Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (MTS) (NYSE: MBT) to establish a 5G research center in Innopolis, the new Russian high-tech city located in the Republic of Tatarstan. The building of prototypes, hackathons and more is promised by the partners. The fun starts during the second quarter of 2018.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK), meanwhile, is working with Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Co. (du) to trial 3GPP standardized 5G New Radio non-standalone technology, with a view to deploying live sites in selected areas in the UAE. Nokia and du will be aiming to achieve 5Gbit/s throughput, using Nokia's AirScale radio platform and Massive MIMO antenna.

Telecom Italia (TIM) has signed a "wide-scope" agreement with US chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. (Nasdaq: QCOM) that includes 5G and business innovation within its capacious remit. The two companies will look at use cases for advanced mobile services, including those enabled by 5G and related to IoT.

Ensemble, the NFV-focused arm of Germany's ADVA Optical Networking , has found a berth for its Orchestrator and Connector offering at Fujitsu Ltd. (Tokyo: 6702; London: FUJ; OTC: FJTSY), which is drawing on Ensemble's smarts to deliver its own Virtual Edge solution to business customers.

A German court has ruled that Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is not obliged to check websites are free from defamatory content before displaying links to them in its search results. As Reuters reports, the case had been brought by two people looking to stop Google displaying links to websites on which there were attacked by other Internet users.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading