Eurobites: Telia flags up impairment charges as headwinds bite

UK converged operator Virgin Media O2 has upgraded its IP core backbone network, making it "400G-enabled and 800G-ready," according to US-based Juniper Networks, which was responsible for the overhaul. Key to the project were Juniper's PTX10008 packet transport routers. Over the past year, says Juniper, Virgin Media O2 has seen 32% traffic growth on its mobile network, 16% growth in broadband data downloads and a peak traffic load of 22TB.

Executives from Belgium's Proximus have met up with the country's minister of public enterprises, Petra De Sutter, to tackle "abuses" that have arisen in the operator's fiber rollout when the chain of subcontractors used to do the work becomes too long. Proximus has agreed to keep to a maximum of two subcontractor "layers" and to make additional efforts to strengthen internal inspections at its own 300 construction sites. The operator will meet with subcontractors next week to review their existing contracts.

Spotify, the Sweden-headquartered music streaming service, will become the latest high-profile tech firm to announce layoffs, according to a Bloomberg report (paywall applies). The layoffs, says Bloomberg, could be officially announced this week, although there is no indication yet as to how many employees will face the ax.

Strife-torn Telecom Italia (TIM) says it has successfully placed an €850 million ($924 million) 5-year bond issue, the proceeds of which will be used to refinance existing debt.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading