Eurobites: Vodafone drives its 'living room on wheels' to ten more countriesEurobites: Vodafone drives its 'living room on wheels' to ten more countries

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Telia Q2 results, Meta says EU can't play with its AI, Vodafone Italia CEO will bid his arrivederci in autumn.

Tereza Krásová, Associate Editor

July 18, 2024

3 Min Read
Green car driving past a beach
All that's missing is a way to check emails...(Source: Simon Berger/Unsplash)
  • Vodafone is driving its "Living Room on Wheels" to carmakers in ten more European markets. Also known by the more down-to-Earth name Internet in the Car, the service allows those in the vehicle to pretend they're still at home by giving them access to their local content while driving abroad. It also combines local Internet access with Vodafone Business's global managed IoT connectivity platform. But where does the bookcase go?

  • Operator group Telia, present in Nordic and Baltic countries, has released its second-quarter results. They were in line with expectations, according to comments by CEO Patrik Hofbauer, who praised continued momentum in telco operations and a return to revenue growth in TV and media. Telia's second-quarter revenue increased 2.3% to SEK22.4 billion (US$2.1 billion), while adjusted EBITDA grew 6.4% to SEK7.9 billion ($749 million). Financial outlook remains unchanged.

  • Aldo Bisio is stepping down as CEO of Vodafone Italy to "pursue an external opportunity," but he will remain a non-executive member of the board of directors to oversee the regulatory approval process of the Italian unit's sale to Swisscom that was announced in March. His last day as CEO will be 15 November, after which the current CFO Sabrina Casalta will take over as interim CEO. 

  • In other HR developments, things seem to be going well at UK altnet Vorboss, which specialises in providing fiber connections to London businesses. It is expanding its commercial team to cope with growing demand. Jason O'Malley will join as chief of commercial operations, having previously worked at Zayo and BT. Meanwhile, Malcolm Puddefoot has been appointed chief revenue officer, after working at Colt Technology. 

  • Uncowed by VMO2's cells on wheels (COWs), Vodafone is highlighting its own efforts to keep Brits connected during their summer adventures. For its part, the operator is making improvements at its masts near coastal hotspots to accommodate holidaymakers in the unlikely event the sun ever makes it to the UK this year. Vodafone is also working on improving connectivity inland through its shared network program, as well as open RAN mini-masts on church towers and pubs. And Vodafone UK also has its own herd of COWs, temporary masts that that are wheeled to events like Glastonbury.

  • Speaking of beefs, Meta will withhold future multimodal AI models from the EU market in what is the latest chapter in a longstanding conflict between big tech and the bloc, Axios reports. The sprawling social media empire has taken issue with GDPR legislation, arguing there is insufficient clarity as to how it applies to AI. Meta has a thorny history with GDPR compliance, having been fined multiple times for failing to adhere to the data privacy legislation. Apple has, meanwhile, recently said it will withhold new Apple Intelligence features in Europe, having taken issue with the Digital Markets Act.

  • UK on-device AI start-up Oxford Semantic has been acquired by Samsung Electronics. The start-up has developed knowledge graph technology that is said to bring machines closer to thinking like us humans to deliver "hyper-personalised experiences." Because nothing says personal quite like chatting to a robot.

  • French regulator Arcep has launched the process of awarding 900MHz, 1,800MHz and 2.1GHz spectrum in the country's sunny overseas territories Guadeloupe, French Guyana, Martinique, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin and Mayotte. 

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Europe

About the Author

Tereza Krásová

Associate Editor, Light Reading

Associate Editor, Light Reading

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