Eurobites: Nokia and Kyndryl combine on LTE, 5G private networks

Germany's ADVA has been showing off its 400G credentials in a trial using the Finnish University and Research Network (FUNET) and the Swedish University Computer Network (SUNET). Using both networks, the demo deployed ADVA's FSP 3000 TeraFlex CoreChannel kit to transmit data at 400 Gbit/s over a distance of more than 10,000km – something particularly useful to research boffins, whose line of work often necessitates the transfer of huge data sets between continents.

BT has broadened the scope of its Green Tech Innovation Platform, pointing it toward manufacturing businesses in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector as they try to operate in a more "sustainable" way. The platform is a sort of tech incubator, intended to help new and growing companies develop new products that could help enterprises get greener.

Orange has teamed up with its Senegal subsidiary, Sonatel, and satellite operator SES to deploy and manage what they say is the first African gateway to O3b mPower, SES's medium earth orbit (MEO) communications system. The gateway will be located at the Sonatel teleport in the Senegalese territory of Gandoul.

Telefónica Tech and Éxxita Be Circular have created a European Green Passport for electronic equipment certified by blockchain. The hope is that the scheme will promote more sustainable device models that encourage reuse through device traceability. Each device repair is registered and "stamped" in the blockchain, eliminating, say the companies, the possibility of falsified records and making it easier to put a value on the devices for when they appear on the refurbished devices market.

Spotify, the Swedish audio streaming giant, has bought two podcast technology companies, Podsights and Chartable, to help it respectively convince advertisers to advertise and give podcast publishers more insight into who is listening to their output.

Deutsche Telekom is hoping to appear more cuddly and switched-on with a branding revamp that seeks to project a more consistent image worldwide and use a few colors that aren't magenta. The following video that attempts to convey what DT's marketing aces are up to…

UK altnet CityFibre is to provide backhaul for a new 5G small cell network in the northern English city of Sunderland. The "smart city" project, of which this network forms a part, is being run by BAI Communications.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading