The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, an Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) to support research, innovation and the first industrial deployment of microelectronics and communication technologies across the value chain. The project, IPCEI ME/CT, was jointly prepared and notified by fourteen Member States: Austria, Czechia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, […]

Viasat of California and London-based Inmarsat can now wrap up their much-awaited merger plan. The final regulatory approval, from the European Commission, was granted on May 25th. The two companies expect their merger to conclude “in days” and by the end of May. The European Commission (EC) was concerned that the merger scheme would limit […]

The Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia) has welcomed the news that the European Commission has closed its preliminary review of AOMedia’s royalty-free licensing policy without further action. AOMedia is a developer of open, royalty-free media technologies and develops standards spanning video, audio, still images, and immersive technologies. AOMedia and its members are fully committed to […]

The GSMA and ETNO, industry associations representing fixed and mobile network operators, have called for European policymakers to take bold action to secure EU connectivity leadership over the next decade. In a joint response to the European Commission consultation on ‘The future of the electronic communications sector and its infrastructure’ the associations state that Europe […]

The European Commission has adopted its proposal for a Council Decision establishing the EU’s position on issues related to spectrum use to be discussed at the World Radiocommunication Conference 2023 of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). A common EU Member States’ position ensures that EU citizens and businesses have smooth access to services such as […]

The European Commission has announced an extension of 10 working days to its in-depth investigation of the proposed creation of a joint venture by Spanish telcos Orange and MásMóvil. The Commission is concerned that the transaction may reduce competition in the retail supply of mobile and fixed broadband services as well as of multiple-play bundles […]

The European Commission has adopted a Recommendation on how to combat commercial scale online piracy of sports and other live events, such as concerts and theatre performances, but has been criticised by a number of trade bodies for under-delivering and delaying important decisions. The Recommendation encourages Member States, national authorities, holders of rights and providers […]

The fact that the IRIS² satellite consortium includes just about every major name in the European space business provides a strong clue as to the project’s overall importance. IRIS², with a nod to the Greek goddess of mythology and messenger of the gods and also in its own EU-speak, Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security […]

SES has confirmed that it has joined a group of European space and telecommunications players, including rival Eutelsat, which have come together to form a partnership to respond to the European Commission’s call for tender related to the future European satellite constellation IRIS² (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite). The IRIS² satellite constellation […]

The European Commission has informed software solutions specialist Broadcom of its preliminary view that its proposed acquisition of enterprise software provider VMware may restrict competition in the market for certain hardware components which interoperate with VMware’s virtualisation software. In December 2022, the Commission opened an in-depth investigation to assess if Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware may […]