Eurobites: Moldova knocks on door of EU's free roaming club

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: VMO2 touts its free EU roaming; Deutsche Bahn improves mobile reception for its passengers; Safaricom secures sustainability loan.

Moldova has moved a step closer to joining the EU's "roam like at home" area, with the European Commission adopting a proposal to incorporate roaming into the EU-Moldova Association Agreement. Since being granted "candidate" status (for joining the EU) in June 2022, Moldova has expressed an interest in reflecting European single market rules in the telecom sector. Earlier this year EU and Moldovan operators signed a joint declaration to voluntarily lower roaming tariffs from January 1, 2024. The proposal will now be considered by the EU's Council.

On the other side of the European roaming coin, converged UK operator Virgin Media O2 is using the imminent Rugby World Cup in France as an opportunity to draw attention to the fact that it does not impose roaming charges on its customers who travel to the EU, whereas its main rivals do. According to VMO2, customers of EE, Vodafone and Three who stay in France for the whole 51 days of the tournament could well rack up roaming charges of more than £100 ($126), assuming they want to share photos on social media, use online maps for directions, and so on.

Deutsche Bahn, the German rail company, has introduced laser-treated windows on its regional trains that, it claims, offer 100 times better mobile phone reception for its passengers than was previously possible. To protect against the effects of heat, the glass in Deutsche Bahn's train windows is covered with a very thin layer of metal which is difficult for mobile phone waves to penetrate. In this pilot project, a fine network structure is etched into the metal layer using a laser, allowing the waves to penetrate the windows more easily. New Deutsche Bahn long-distance trains have already received the laser treatment.

Kenya's Safaricom has agreed a deal with a consortium of banks for a 15 billion Kenyan shilling (US$103 million) Sustainability Linked Loan (SLL) intended to strengthen its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) agenda. According to Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa, the funding will enable the operator to "create more diversified investments that will support transformative investments in new technologies, systems and services." The consortium comprised Standard Chartered, Standard Bank, ABSA and KCB.

Dutch operator KPN has opened a dedicated online store for its smart home products, such as thermostats, lights and fancy-pants doorbells. According to research recently commissioned by the operator, just under half of Dutch homes already possess a smart thermostat and smart lighting, while around a third thrill to the trill of a smart doorbell. The problem, says KPN, is that a lot of these products are insecure and carry a high risk of being hacked; the operator says it will only offer products that comply with all relevant safety regulations.

Amsterdam-based Media Distillery has landed an EPG (electronic program guide) software deal with Magenta Telekom, Deutsche Telekom's Austrian subsidiary. EPG Correction Distillery is intended to resolve one of the most common problems facing so-called "super-aggregators" and their subscribers – namely the lack of accurate time markers in broadcast and the resulting discrepancy between actual and scheduled EPG start and end times of TV shows.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading