en.Wedoany.com Reported - Vodafone, in collaboration with the Irish government, is conducting satellite communication technology trials in areas lacking terrestrial cellular network coverage. The trial leverages Satellite Connect Europe—a joint venture established last year between Vodafone and AST SpaceMobile, partly aimed at countering Elon Musk's rapidly growing Starlink service influence in Europe—to test the ability of standard smartphones to achieve voice and data connectivity via AST SpaceMobile's low Earth orbit satellite constellation, thereby supporting frontline emergency responders in remote areas. The trial site is Clare Island in County Mayo, Ireland. Satellite Connect Europe, headquartered in Luxembourg, is controlled by an operations center in Germany. In November, the company stated it had received business cooperation expressions of interest from operators in 21 European countries.
The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has signed a contract with China's Gosuncn Technology Group to build a fiber optic line approximately 2,100 kilometers long along the Congo River, with a contract value of $1.5 billion. The project includes 1,700 kilometers of riverine fiber optic cable from Muanda to Kisangani, as well as nearly 400 kilometers of terrestrial connection lines. The government stated that choosing the riverine route helps circumvent challenges faced by terrestrial infrastructure construction in the country, such as vast land area, poor road conditions, and security risks.
French communications regulator Arcep has released two sets of guidelines aimed at promoting freedom of choice in cloud services. The first set focuses on costs other than exit fees that may be considered when determining switching costs for cloud service providers; the second set explores cost factors that may be considered in determining exit fees when adopting a multi-cloud architecture.
Swedish video transmission company Net Insight announced that Chief Financial Officer Cecilia Höjgård Höök has decided to leave and take a position outside the company. She will remain until the end of the year, during which time Net Insight will initiate the search for a successor.
The UK's National Health Service is launching a health promotion program, inviting participants to "walk a marathon distance per month" in exchange for specific discounts and other incentives. According to the BBC, this means walking approximately half an hour per day. Participants need to record their walks online via a mobile phone or smartwatch. The program is expected to launch early next year.
Six years ago today, the European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association (ETNO, now known as Connect Europe) called on EU institutions and national governments to support open and interoperable interfaces in radio access networks as part of a broad post-pandemic recovery plan. The association also called for timely spectrum auctions, increased incentives for radio access network sharing agreements and fiber investments, simplified deployment authorization procedures, and coordinated action to address misinformation surrounding 5G.
