The French radio and television transmission company TDF is testing out two novel broadcast technologies during this year's French Open tennis tournament. Matches are streaming to mobile devices via 5G straight from the Eiffel Tower to test mobility and reception on smartphones. Viewers do not need Wi-Fi, a phone contract, or even a SIM to access the free broadcast. Those viewing on their TVs in Paris, Nantes and Toulouse will be able to stream in 4k UHD.

The British telecoms giant BT is poised to find about £4 million ($5 million) in spare change down the back of its network sofa this year, its head of circular economy Matt Manning writes in a blog post. The money should come from extracting about 200 tonnes of copper and 2,000 tonnes of lead batteries, as well as resale and recycling of redundant equipment. The telco is currently working with circular economy specialist NS2 on recovering precious metals from its equipment through a process called bioleaching, while TXO is helping it reuse equipment internally and, failing that, resell it into the global market. Manning further says BT is looking to retire energy-intensive legacy infrastructure, such as the public switched telephone and 3G networks.

The International Finance Corporation – a member of the World Bank Group – will invest $157 million in Safaricom Ethiopia, which is a slight decrease from the $160 million stated in September as pointed out by Reuters, and provide a $100 million loan on top of that. MIGA, another World Bank body, will give ten-year guarantees of $1 billion to cover the equity investments by Safaricom Ethiopia's shareholders Vodafone Group, Vodacom, Safaricom and British International Investment. The money is intended to help the operator roll out and operate 4G and 5G across the country.

Polkom, owner of Polish operator Plus, has criticized the proposed terms of the country's upcoming 3.6GHz spectrum auction for 5G services, as set out by the Office of Electronic Communications (UKE), saying the levels of investment and infrastructure build expected are unrealistic. It argues the 3.6GHz band is unsuitable for the type of ubiquitous coverage sought by UKE and goes as far as to say that the auction may end up being cancelled.

The EU Court of Justice has ruled that Italian telecommunications regulator Agcom had every right to establish a mandatory minimum billing period. This was done to prevent operators from quoting customers prices based on 28-day billing periods, in what one can only imagine was a well-intentioned effort to improve the maths skills of the Italian population.

— Tereza Krásová, Associate Editor, Light Reading