Eurobites: Vodafone's fiscal Q1 presents mixed picture

Vodafone UK's youth-oriented mobile brand, VOXI, has introduced unlimited music streaming for its customers, allowing them to tune into Spotify, Apple Music and other services without using up any of their data allowance.

Adjusted second-quarter earnings at Dutch incumbent operator KPN fell by 0.8% year-over-year, to €1.18 billion ($1.3 billion), on revenues that were up 1.8%, to €2.66 billion ($2.95 billion). Business service revenues showed continued growth, with the SME sector making a strong contribution. During the quarter, KPN announced the acquisitions of Primevest, a fiber provider, and Youfone, which operates in the no-frills mobile market.

UK altnet CityFibre saw its operating losses nearly double in 2022, to £210 million ($269 million), the Telegraph reports (paywall applies). Rising interest rates put pressure on the debt-laden company, which is backed by Goldman Sachs. Gross debt stood at £1.8 billion ($2.3 billion) at the end of 2022. (See Amid altnet woes, BT eyes dominance of full-fiber future and The UK has become a fiber swamp.)

T-Systems, the IT services arm of Deutsche Telekom, has signed a memorandum of understanding with IQM Quantum Computers, a company that builds superconducting quantum computers, in a move that will allow T-Systems' customers to access IQM's quantum systems and develop their skills in this nascent tech sphere.

Around a hundred Belgian organizations, telco Proximus among them, have joined forces to fight the growing digital divide in the country. The coalition is using real-life testimonies to raise awareness of the problem and encourage other organizations to take steps to tackle it. According to one measure, the number of Belgians at risk of digital exclusion rose from 40% to 46% between 2019 and 2021.

Meanwhile, on the sunny side of the digital divide… residents of a swanky new apartment block in the Nine Elms district of London need no longer fear a momentary communications breakdown when they step into the elevator, thanks to Freshwave, which has connected the block's two high-rise towers via a distributed antenna system to 4G from all four UK mobile network operators. People entering One Nine Elms will able to continue their calls uninterrupted until they reach their destination inside thanks to technology installed in the elevators. Phew.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading