The European Commission gave conditional clearance to the Vodafone/Liberty Global merger of their Dutch operations into a 50/50 joint venture, the two said in a news release Wednesday. They said the deal was approved after Vodafone committed to divesting its consumer fixed business before the merger. They also said the divestment might include mobile virtual network operator access subject to an agreement on terms. Vodafone and Liberty Global announced the deal in February and said they hoped to have it complete by year's end (see 1602160018)
Neustar said it will continue to provide number portability services in Canada to telecom carriers under an agreement with the Canadian LNP Consortium. The pact with CLNPC is through 2018, said Steve Edwards, Neustar senior vice president-data solutions, in a release Tuesday. “This agreement benefits Canadian consumers and service providers and provides an opportunity to build on Neustar’s exceptional performance and customer support for the industry.” CLNPC President Jacques Sarrazin said in the release: "The Canadian telecommunications industry has signaled its continued confidence in Neustar's ability to provide uninterrupted and reliable number portability services. We believe this step is critical to positioning the CLNPC in planning for 2019 and beyond, and we look forward to ongoing discussions with Neustar with respect to future requirements for number portability services in Canada.” Neustar lost its number portability contract with the FCC for the U.S. (see 1607250029).
Alfa, the Lebanese wireless carrier managed by Orascom Telecom, working with Nokia, launched that nation's first 4G LTE-Advanced network, Nokia said in a news release Tuesday. “The network enables Alfa to offer its subscribers significantly higher download speeds of up to 262.5 Mbits/sec for accessing high-definition video and other data-intensive applications.”
Liberty Global signed a deal with All3Media for creation of original content for its European, Latin American and Caribbean customers, Liberty said in a news release Tuesday. Liberty said the deal is for four original drama series over the next two years, with the series to be made available on demand to subscribers. All3Media production companies will produce the series, Liberty said. Liberty and Discovery are joint partners in All3Media, and Liberty and Discovery also renewed their distribution agreement, Liberty said in a separate news release Tuesday. That renewal will keep Discovery networks on Liberty's cable lineups in 12 European nations, and includes digital rights for accessing that programing on various devices and out of the home, Liberty said. Liberty said the deal also includes full Olympic Games coverage through Discovery's Eurosport network.
Huawei faces headwinds in its aim to become the top global smartphone vendor in five years, said a Monday ABI Research report. The Chinese smartphone maker rose to the No. 3 global smartphone maker primarily on sales in its home market, but it will need to get a strong foothold in the U.S. and Western Europe to achieve its goal, while creating its own chipsets and Android-based mobile operating system, ABI said. It was helped by the “ongoing collapse” of shipment numbers from brands including BlackBerry, HTC, Sony and Microsoft Lumia, said analyst David McQueen. Android smartphone makers like Samsung tried to develop competing OS platforms and “failed miserably,” he said.
TDK’s Munich-based Epcos made a public tender offer for all publicly held shares of Tronics, in a stock-based deal valued at about $54.3 million, it said in a news release Monday. Tronics’ portfolio includes MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) technologies with multiple sensor functions in one device. Thales Avionics, which owns 20.9 percent of Tronics, said it wishes to remain a strategic shareholder.
More than half the world’s population doesn't use the internet, despite falling prices for information and communications technology, ITU said in a Friday news release about its 2016 ICT Facts & Figures report. About 3.9 billion of 7.4 billion people don’t use the internet, the ITU said. There are 2.5 billion internet users in developing countries, more than the 1 billion users in developed countries. But developed countries have higher internet penetration, it said. About 81 percent in developed countries use the Internet compared with 40 percent in the developing nations, it said. The report also said 2G mobile networks cover about 95 percent of the global population, and 4G LTE networks cover 53 percent. The number of mobile-broadband subscriptions has grown at double-digit rates in developing countries to reach a penetration rate of nearly 41 percent, but overall mobile-broadband growth has slowed, it said. The ITU predicted the total number of mobile-broadband subscriptions globally will hit 3.6 billion by year-end. Mobile broadband is cheaper than fixed, said ITU, with the average price of fixed more than twice as high as the average price of mobile, it said. “Global interconnectedness is rapidly expanding, however more needs to be done to bridge the digital divide and bring the more than half of the global population not using the Internet into the digital economy,” said Secretary-General Houlin Zhao.
TechFreedom joined Engage Cuba, a coalition of companies, trade associations and civil society organizations seeking to end the travel and trade embargo on Cuba. “Normalizing relations with Cuba is a win-win, especially for technology,” said TechFreedom Policy Counsel Tom Struble in a Friday news release. “Lifting the embargo opens a new market for American companies, and Cubans will gain access to online services that provide jobs, foster free speech, and enable more cultural diffusion.” For example, Airbnb would help Cubans make money from an influx of travelers, he said: “Travel is essential to the Cuban tech sector, as U.S. companies and experts need the freedom to help spur startups and accelerate broadband deployment on the Island.”
An Irish High Court judge Tuesday accepted the U.S. government, two technology associations and a U.S.-based privacy group as amici curiae in a case involving Facebook's use of standard contractual clauses to transfer Europeans' personal data across the Atlantic (see 1607060009). But Justice Brian McGovern refused applications by several other civil liberties, human rights and privacy associations, an Irish business group and a data protection expert to advise the court. In his judgment, McGovern said the U.S. has a "significant and bona fide interest in the outcome of the proceedings. ... The imposition of restrictions on the transfer of such data would have potentially considerable adverse effects on EU-US commerce and could affect US companies significantly." Applications from industry associations BSA|The Software Alliance and Digital Europe also were accepted as was one from the Electronic Privacy Information Center. McGovern said EPIC would "offer a counterbalancing perspective" to the U.S. government's stance. McGovern acknowledged that Max Schrems, the Austrian privacy activist who brought the complaint against Facebook, is an EPIC board member, but the judge said there are 93 other board members and Schrems won't provide any advice or help preparing submissions or have contact with the group. McGovern denied applications from the American Civil Liberties Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Irish Council of Civil Liberties and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, saying they wouldn't provide any particular assistance or new perspective. He also denied assistance from Ireland-based industry group IBEC and Kevin Cahill, who was described as an IT expert in the decision but who has been also identified as a U.K.-based journalist and data privacy campaigner in other media reports. The case, which was brought by Ireland's data protection commissioner, is expected to be transferred to the European Court of Justice soon.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is creating a Digital Trade Working Group to target digital trade barriers and promote policies to advance digital trade efforts worldwide, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said. Deputy USTR Robert Holleyman will head the group, which includes USTR experts in e-commerce, telecom, services, intellectual property, innovation and industrial competitiveness, USTR said. “The Digital Trade Working Group is an important resource to help the United States maintain its 'digital trade surplus,' and allow companies and workers in every sector of the U.S. economy to use the Internet to deliver innovative, American-made products and services abroad,” Froman said. The group will focus on barriers to cloud computing, platform services and digital products trade, and will coordinate the negotiation and implementation of digital trade provisions in various bilateral and multilateral agreements, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, and the Trade in Services Agreement, USTR said. Internet Association CEO Michael Beckerman called for lawmakers to work with industry and USTR to create a chief digital trade negotiator position within USTR last week during a House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee hearing (see 1607130066).