(Source: The Photolibrary Wales/Alamy Stock Photo)

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is targeting what it sees as Apple's resistance to opening up its contactless technology to third parties at a reasonable price, a failing which the CMA feels is holding back the UK's fintech industry. The CMA said it has heard concerns from businesses that the tech giant's current NFC (near field communications) access arrangements may not be "commercially viable" and that different technical approaches across different jurisdictions and platforms can make it hard to compete. The regulator proposes that Apple should provide such access through "the main contactless technology standards used internationally" and has put forward principles for how the pricing and terms of Apple's contactless functionality should be determined, with the expectation that the charges would be substantially lower than Apple's current fees. (See Eurobites: EU accepts Apple concessions on opening up tap-to-pay.)

Elisa's Q3 dented by PSTN switch-off

The switching-off of its old-school PSTN (public switched telephone network) put a €2 million (US$2.2 million) dent in the third-quarter earnings of Finnish operator Elisa. Comparable EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) decreased by 2% year-over-year to €210 million ($236 million), on revenue that was flat at €561 million ($630 million). The data center sector is becoming increasingly important to Elisa: During the quarter, it announced a deal with Google to provide connectivity to their three new data center campuses in Finland. (See Eurobites: Google tips €13B into Finnish data center plan.)

Separately, Elisa says it's preparing to validate the benefits of AI-RAN in a live commercial network with Nvidia and Nokia next year. The operator has completed what it describes as Europe's first live network AI RAN trials.

TIM goes sovereign with Nvidia

In related news, Telecom Italia (TIM) is drawing on Nvidia processing power to create a "sovereign" AI infrastructure for Italian businesses and public sector organizations. The AI platform, developed by TIM Enterprise and hosted in Italy, will integrate TIM's centralized cloud and distributed edge footprint with Nvidia AI infrastructure.

A1 Group raises its outlook

Austria-based A1 Group saw third-quarter revenues rise 4.6% year-over-year to €1.47 billion ($1.65 billion), while EBITDA (excluding restructuring) grew by 1.9% to €595 million ($668 million). Commenting on the results, CEO Alejandro Plater said the company's Central and Eastern European (CEE) markets remain its "main growth engine." On the back of the encouraging numbers, A1 raised its full-year outlook for revenue growth from 2-3% to around 4%. (See Eurobites: A1 up against it in Austria but finding growth elsewhere.)

Ofcom fines Tismi over number misuse

UK communications regulator Ofcom has fined Tismi £437,500 ($586,215) for failing to carry out due diligence to ensure that phone numbers it transferred weren't misused by scammers. According to Ofcom, Tismi exposed approximately 366,000 sub-allocated numbers to potential misuse, and therefore a significant number of consumers to harm, for over two years. Ofcom has also opened a new investigation into Xtra Phones UK for suspected offenses of a similar nature.

Sparkle sale still on

The Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and Retelit – a subsidiary of Spanish infrastructure fund Asterion – have confirmed their commitment to completing the long-drawn-out acquisition of TIM's Sparkle unit via their Boost BidCo vehicle. They are, they said, "engaging in constructive discussions with the goal of closing the transaction." The parties have agreed to reconvene on November 20. (See Eurobites: €700M bid comes in for Telecom Italia's Sparkle unit.)

Telefónica Germany taps Italtel, Red Hat for voice core

Telefónica Germany has turned to Italtel's cloud routing platform to help it revamp its voice core network. Italtel collaborated with Red Hat on the project which, claims Italtel, has already improved the network's efficiency and enabled the rapid deployment of new services. (See Eurobites: Telefónica Germany tests 'sovereign' satellite fill-in.)

O2 brings 5G SA to Cumbria

UK mobile operator O2 has switched on 5G standalone service in the northern English county of Cumbria, bringing those with compatible handsets faster speeds in several towns, Carlisle, Barrow-in-Furness and Workington among them. The upgrade forms part of Virgin Media O2's £700 million ($938.2 million) Mobile Transformation Plan. (See VMO2 reviews RAN suppliers in 5G network upgrade.)