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Nokia plans sweeping Bell Labs cuts to alarm of ex-president #
Former Bell Labs boss Marcus Weldon weighs in with new harsh criticism of Nokia leadership as the famous research unit falls victim to more cuts.
Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: VodafoneZiggo to sell tower assets; TIM welcomes increased takeover bid; Openreach can increase copper prices, says Ofcom.
Google is planning to invest €13 billion (US$15 billion) in AI-related digital infrastructure in Finland over the next two years, including data centers and associated investments in Hamina, Kajaani, Muhos and Vaala. According to the search giant, this represents Google's largest single investment in Europe to date. The planned facilities come in addition to Google's existing data center in Hamina, which is housed in a former paper mill the company bought in 2009. Google says that once operational, the new facilities will support 7,000 jobs annually, though this figure does include jobs in local shops, restaurants and the like as well as roles directly associated with the data centers.
Finnish operator Elisa, which provides connectivity for the existing Hamina data center, has been signed up to do the same for the new facilities.
US-based Liberty Global has agreed to sell the tower assets of its Dutch subsidiary, VodafoneZiggo, to a joint company owned by funds managed by DigitalBridge, TD Greystone Infrastructure and L&G for €669 million ($779 million). Proceeds from the deal will be used to reduce debt across Ziggo Group, the new Benelux company that holds Liberty Global's interests in VodafoneZiggo and Telenet. (See Liberty Global to buy UK's Netomnia and Dutch Ziggo.)
Telecom Italia (TIM) has welcomed the improved takeover bid from state-owned Poste Italiane. Poste Italiane raised its cash offer for TIM by €0.30 per TIM share, increasing the cash component of the offer to €1.97 per share. It hopes to create an integrated digital, telecom and financial operator through the deal. (See Poste Italiane takeover would speed up TIM's ambitions – CEO.)
Openreach, the semi-autonomous network access arm of UK incumbent operator BT, will from April 2029 be allowed to increase copper-connection prices in exchange areas with more than 90% "ultrafast" broadband coverage to encourage fiber adoption. This was revealed by Natalie Black, regulator Ofcom's group director for infrastructure and connectivity, in her speech at London's Connected Britain event today. (See Eurobites: Can the copper, BT tells UK critical infrastructure providers and Openreach fiber monopoly is a growing threat, says Nexfibre CEO.)
Scot-Tel-Gould, a Scottish wireless Internet service provider, is to conduct a 6GHz trial of Tarana's Gigabit 1 (G1) fixed wireless access platform in the Aberdeen area. The operator plans to deploy new Tarana G1 6GHz base nodes in the area and test G1's four-carrier mode under an Ofcom experimental license. In January, Ofcom confirmed plans for a spectrum-sharing approach to the upper 6GHz band that would allow mobile and Wi-Fi providers to use the frequencies at the same time. (See UK wants mobile and Wi-Fi to share upper 6GHz spectrum.)
Asteo Red Neutra and Rede Aberta have launched Rurix, a digital infrastructure joint venture boasting a transport network providing coverage to nearly 800,000 homes in rural areas of Spain. Its CEO will be Pedro Abad, its CTO Pere Antentas, and Ana Rial joins as CFO.
Deutsche Telekom is touting an AI-powered call summary feature for small and midsized businesses. Voice AI Notes Mobile, as the feature is called, lets employees document call outcomes without having to take notes during the call. However, prior consent from the other party on the call is required before the feature can be activated.
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