Eurobites: A1 Austria absorbs VX Fiber network in Dietach

A1 Austria has integrated around 30km of fiber owned by international operator VX Fiber into its own network. The acquired network covers around 1,500 households and businesses in Dietach, Upper Austria. The network takeover means that A1 will be using VX Fiber's Open Access platform for the first time, on which other providers can also deliver their services in addition to A1. Existing broadband contracts in Dietach will be unaffected by the takeover, says A1. Its network now runs to more than 73,000km nationwide, serving in excess of 700,000 households.

Telefónica has issued another "green bond" – in other words, one that is tied to specific ESG (environmental, social and governance) criteria. It's worth €1.75 billion (US$1.90 billion), and comes in two tranches, one running over eight years and the other over 12. The funds will be allocated mainly to projects intended to make Telefónica's fixed and mobile networks more efficient. Last year the Spanish operator launched three green bonds worth a total of €2.6 billion ($2.8 billion).

Finland's Vipps MobilePay is to update its mobile money app following reports that the app has been used by stalkers to harass their victims and, in some cases, break restraining orders. According to Finnish news website YLE, messages and images have been added to money requests or transfers, which victims have been unable to block.

Yayzi, a consumer Internet service provider based in the northern English town of Blackpool, has become the first ISP on CityFibre's network to offer a 2.5Gbit/s symmetrical broadband service. The service is powered by CityFibre's XGS-PON platform which, says CityFibre, is ultimately capable of supporting symmetrical speed services up to 10 Gbit/s.

South African SD-WAN player CMC Networks has upgraded its global network operations center with a move to new offices in Sandton. The company says the upgrade, which includes the implementation of Juniper Mist AI, will boost the efficiency of its network operations.

UK-based IoT specialist Eseye is predicting a shift to the edge in 2024. Among other innovations, the company foresees the emergence of what it calls "smart connectivity" software, which will link to the IoT edge to the cloud. CEO Nick Earle puts it like this: "In 2023 we noted a control shift from the network operator to the enterprise and the device. This will continue into 2024 where we anticipate an increased focus on the shift from the traditional data center to the edge."

Openreach, the semi-autonomous network access arm of UK incumbent operator BT, has announced the next 46 exchange locations where it will cease offering analog services. This brings the total number of locations now notified for, or already actively under "stop sell," to 920 exchanges, covering a total of around  8.5 million premises. BT is committed to switching off the existing analog phoneline platform – the PSTN – by the end of December 2025 and everyone in the UK will need to have a digital phone line before then.