Also in today’s EMEA regional roundup: Orange launches commercial 5G in Romania; Colt extends relationship with Microsoft; Hungary has no beef with Huawei.
Digital transformation is an expensive business: Restructuring costs (mainly in Spain) whacked Telefnica’s net income in the third quarter, the Spain-based operator recording a loss of 443 million (US$492 million) on revenues that climbed 1.7% to 11.9 billion ($13.2 billion). The company laid claim to “solid performance” in its main markets, namely Spain, Brazil, Germany and the UK, with sales at the latter (trading under the O2 brand) up 4.1% year-on-year to 1.59 billion ($2.05 billion). Jos Mara lvarez-Pallete, Telefnica’s chairman and CEO, pledged in the earnings statement to make more efficient use of the company’s networks by sharing them, and reiterated full-year guidance. (See Wake Up & Smell the Coffee, Telefnica.)
Orange has chosen Romania to be the first country within its footprint to launch a commercial 5G network, with the cities of Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca and Iasi being the first to benefit from the technology. Average download speeds of 600 Mbit/s are being promised, along with a range of features for customers, including unlimited Internet and access to the Deezer music service.
UK-based Colt Technology Services is extending its collaboration with Microsoft, being named as a launch partner for the Microsoft Azure Peering Service as well as joining the Azure Networking Managed Service Provider (MSP) Programme. The Azure Peering Service allows enterprises to benefit from a direct interconnection between Colt’s IP Access offering and the public Microsoft Network without intermediate providers.
Hungary has no problem with Huawei playing a role in the building of its high-speed 5G network, and plans to allow the Chinese vendor to cooperate with Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom on the rollout, Reuters reports. (See Trump Is Losing the European War Against Huawei.)
A new high-capacity fiber connection between Denmark and the Netherlands has been launched, providing a low-latency route for data traffic between the Nordics and western Europe. Called Cobra, the fiber link has been laid alongside a 325km high-voltage power cable that transports wind-generated power between Endrup in Denmark and Eemshaven in the Netherlands. Norwegian infrastructure company Tampnet is the first company to make use of this new connection.
UK altnet CityFibre is to deliver fiber to around 19,000 social housing properties in Scotland’s capital, Edinburgh. CityFibre is working in partnership with Vodafone to provide initial broadband services over the network. (See Eurobites: CityFibre Secures 1.12B for Fiber Rollout.)
Deutsche Telekom has begun offering a service package to companies that have decided to go down the Apple Mac route for their IT needs. Deployment infrastructure, app development, Office 365 integration and flexible leasing are among the goodies being offered in the new enterprise package.
Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading
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