Eurobites: Nokia exits 'legacy JV' with Huawei

Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica, TIM and Vodafone have published the third release of their technical priorities for open radio access networks (RAN). This time the focus is on furthering the requirements for service management and orchestration (SMO) and RAN intelligent controllers (RICs). The document also dedicates a section to security matters and addresses challenges related to disaggregation, while including more energy efficiency requirements.

Tim Whitley, managing director for research and network strategy at UK telecom giant BT, has shared his thoughts on quantum technology and the telco's role in its development ahead of the World Quantum Day on April 14. He notes "quantum technologies promise transformational opportunities across computing, communications, sensing and timing," saying they can help tackle challenges "currently considered intractable." Whitley also points to quantum-secure encryption as a priority for the group, which trialed a quantum-secured metro network last year.

Vodafone has teamed up with the Women's Welsh Rugby Union to include menstrual data in the telco's PLAYER.Connect platform, which aggregates and analyzes data from wearable devices. The idea is to determine how players' wellbeing, performance and recovery are affected by their menstrual cycles, and to offer individual diet, training and match preparation recommendations. The data will also be used as part of a long-term research study by Cardiff Metropolitan University – in partnership with Vodafone – into how the menstrual cycle affects areas including concussion and injury prevention, and sleep.

Italian media reports that the country's communications regulator Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni (AGCOM) has published new regulations relating to the indexation of prices to inflation. In recent months, Italian operators have reportedly started including such a mechanism in their contracts. AGCOM has ruled any existing contracts cannot be amended without explicit consent by the consumer, while price hikes in new contracts can only take place after 12 months and must adhere to an index created by a public authority.

— Tereza Krásová, Associate Editor, Light Reading