Eurobites: Online Viewing Hurts BBC, Prompts Job Cuts

News Analysis Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe 7/2/2015

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Huawei and UAE operator du work on mobile broadband; Dixons Carphone to run stores for Sprint; "father of SMS" dies.

The impact of changing TV viewing habits is certainly being felt at the BBC, the UK's widely respected public broadcaster. The BBC's own website reports that more than 1,000 jobs are going to be cut at the organization, largely as a result of a significant reduction in the income it receives from its license fee -- the budget shortfall is put at ₤150 million (US$234 million), which is roughly equivalent to license fee income from 1 million households. An increasing number of UK households now say they do not watch live TV, opting instead to watch catch-up/video-on-demand services online, for which they do not require a license.

Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Co. (du) is to work with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. on the development of what the pair claim will be the region's most advanced next-generation mobile broadband network. The project, reports Albawaba includes a "network insight" stage that will allow Huawei to analyze the networks and its customers' usage habits.

Phone retailer Dixons Carphone has done a deal with Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S), which will initially see the UK-based firm open and manage 20 Sprint-branded stores in the US, reports the Daily Telegraph. If the first tranche of stores succeed, 500 such stores may be rolled out nationwide. (See Sprint Expands Retail Presence With Dixons.)

Interoute Communications Ltd. has obtained an MEF 2.0 Carrier Ethernet E-Line (EPL, EVPL) certification, making it the only UK-based service provider and one of just ten European providers to have received the gong.

Matti Makkonen, the man who became known to some as "the father of SMS," has died at the age of 68 after an illness, reports the BBC. A former Finnish civil servant, it was Makkonen it was who first put forward the SMS concept, though he always stressed the development of the technology was a team effort. He never made any money from his big idea.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading