The industrial world is set to embrace the internet and digitisation as companies seek to return to the levels of productivity gains they have not seen in a decade. William Ruh (pictured), CEO of GE Digital, said today during his keynote at Congress that the last decade was more about the consumer internet. “But by […]MWC 2016 Live: Industrial world prepares to reap digital benefits
February 25, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The industrial world is set to embrace the internet and digitisation as companies seek to return to the levels of productivity gains they have not seen in a decade. William Ruh (pictured), CEO of GE Digital, said today during his keynote at Congress that the last decade was more about the consumer internet. “But by […]MWC 2016 Live: Mobile ad industry still waiting for “revolution”
February 24, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Martin Sorrell, chief executive of advertising group WPP, bemoaned some shortcomings in his industry that mean mobile advertising is still not taking off as much as it should. “Probably the mobile revolution has not registered yet with companies, although it might have registered more ironically with the long tail then it has with larger companies. […]MWC 2016 LIVE: Orange targets VoLTE and Voice over Wi-Fi; strikes Google partnership
February 24, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Orange today announced the launch of its first smartphone compatible with VoLTE and Wi-Fi calling, as it affirmed its intentions to roll-out the two services across its European footprint. The majority of the operators’ customers will however have to wait to access both services, which have only so far been launched in Romania. It said […]MWC 2016 LIVE: GTI shifts to phase two – 5G – after hitting milestones
February 24, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The Global TD-LTE Initiative (GTI), after reaching most of its stated goals, is moving to the next stage, GTI 2.0, with its focus turning to 5G and the industrialisation of mobile networks. GTI chairman Craig Ehrlich opened the GTI Summit today by stating that with its mission largely completed, the question is, what is next? […]MWC 2016 LIVE: Telenor CEO calls on operators to embrace Mobile Connect initiative
February 24, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Telenor CEO Sigve Brekke took to the stage to urge more operators to embrace the GSMA’s Mobile Connect ID authentication initiative, saying that the industry needs to cooperate to keep control of the log-in in order to retain ownership of the customer relationship and stay relevant in an increasingly digital world. Just this week, GSMA […]MWC 2016 LIVE: Ingenu steps up efforts to build LPWA networks across the globe
February 24, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Ingenu, the US-based low power wide area (LPWA) network specialist, said it has accelerated the pace of its strategy to build public networks exclusively for machine traffic in markets across the globe. John Horn, CEO of Ingenu, formerly known as On-Ramp Wireless, said the company’s five-year plan “has turned into a five-month strategy based on […]MWC 2016 LIVE: Verizon boasts momentum for IoT platform
February 24, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Verizon said more than 4,000 developers are using ThingSpace, the Internet of Things (IoT) platform that the operator unveiled last October. The operator also announced plans to open up ThingSpace – designed to make it easier for developers to roll out IoT devices and applications – to third-party network and technology service providers. A new […]MWC 2016 LIVE: EC adds Brazil to partner tally
February 24, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The European Commission (EC) announced an agreement with Brazil to develop 5G technology, building on similar partnerships with South Korea, China and Japan. In a signing held at Mobile World Congress, the parties committed to a joint collaboration to “strengthen cooperation in this strategic area and to make sure that 5G does not develop in […]MWC 2016 LIVE: BT chief aims to be at UK 5G forefront
February 24, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Gavin Patterson, chief executive of BT Group, spelt out ambitious plans to invest in next-generation access technologies – including 5G – following the £13 billion acquisition of EE, the UK’s largest mobile operator. Pointing out that BT has been investing in wireless R&D for some time before the EE acquisition, and is part of the […]MWC 2016 LIVE: Qualcomm looks to pick up Hamilton’s winning ways
February 24, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Qualcomm used its keynote this evening to talk up its credentials for connected, electric and self-driving cars, aided by the presence of F1 champion Lewis Hamilton. The presence of Hamilton, along with Paddy Lowe, executive director, technical for Mercedes AMG Petronas, and the team’s winning car from last season, enabled the US tech firm to draw […]MWC 2016 LIVE: Mobile Connect availability hits 2B
February 23, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The GSMA’s Mobile Connect mobile-based authentication solution is now available to some two billion customers, the industry association said today. Since its introduction at Mobile World Congress in 2014, 34 network operators in 21 countries have launched, “with plans for additional launches and trials to follow in 2016 and beyond”.Mats Granryd, director general of GSMA, said: […]MWC 2016 LIVE: Industry looks to reduce mobile gender gap
February 23, 2016 by Leave a Comment
GSMA launched the Connected Women Commitment Initiative, with initial commitments from operator members aiming to connect millions more women in low and middle-income countries by 2020. The aim is to support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. The work builds on projects that already see […]MWC 2016 LIVE: Mobile has power to tame transaction fees – PayPal CEO
February 23, 2016 by Leave a Comment
For billions of people across the world, even the simplest financial transactions can be either extremely time consuming or very expensive, which PayPal president CEO Dan Schulman said is “just crazy” in a world of high mobile and smartphone penetration. In his keynote at Mobile World Congress, Schulman said: “We have the ability to make […]MWC 2016 LIVE: Ford trumpets new in-vehicle system, “fundamentally rethinks” transportation
February 23, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Ford is aggressively pursuing opportunities in the mobile space in its quest to “fundamentally rethink transportation”, its CEO, Mark Fields, said in the Mobile is Connected Living keynote. It is looking to transition from being an “automotive company” to an “auto and mobility” company, through its Smart Mobility efforts – its plan to be a […]MWC 2016 LIVE: CEOs issue rallying call to drive ‘gigabit economy’
February 23, 2016 by Leave a Comment
CEOs from the world’s largest mobile operators highlighted the challenges facing the industry over the coming five years, as society adapts to the changes being brought by advancements in mobile technology and digitisation. In the opening keynote on Monday, Mats Granryd (pictured), director general of GSMA, said mobile technology has already played a huge part […]MWC 2016 LIVE: Ericsson/Cisco partnership on track, insist execs
February 23, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The importance of the high-profile Ericsson/Cisco partnership was laid bare at the Swedish vendor’s press conference on Monday. Hans Vestberg, Ericsson’s CEO, stressed that the agreement, which has only been operational for 74 days, was already gaining significant traction and had the continuous commitment from both companies. Cisco’s chief strategy officer, Hilton Romanski, was more […]MWC 2016 LIVE: 5G to trigger disruption, claim industry leaders
February 23, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The next generation of mobile technology will be a key enabler for disrupting traditional business models, claimed a panel of senior industry execs on Monday. “Complete business models are changing,” said Ralph de la Vega, vice chairman of AT&T. “Once we have data in the cloud there will be no stopping industries from disruption.” Vega pointed […]After swallowing effortlessly the right to be forgotten time for Google Ads now to behave
February 23, 2016 by Leave a Comment
2016 is not yet 60 days old and it already seems that this will be another tough year for Google in the EU. Only days after the world learned that Google swallowed the right to be forgotten effortlessly by hiding search results from all its websites to better appease the European Union’s privacy regulators, the news broke out that […]MWC 2016 LIVE: Zuckerberg warns mobile industry not to ignore the unconnected
February 22, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Facebook, warned Congress delegates not to overlook the task of connecting some four billion people that still don’t have access to the web. Under questioning, he expressed “disappointment” that the 5G industry focus was on connecting things rather than the unconnected, and that there was a danger of just providing […]MWC 2016 LIVE: Mobile World Congress shows off planes, trams and automobiles
February 22, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The Mobile World Congress 2016 has just opened its doors today in Fira Barcelona and the Sting is in Barcelona as Brussels’ only EU media to be GSMA’s media partner for many years now. This year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC), under the over-arching theme of Mobile is Everything, will showcase mobile in a plethora of industry sectors. […]MWC 2016 LIVE: The top 5 themes of this year’s Mobile World Congress
February 22, 2016 by 1 Comment
Mobile World Congress is back for its eleventh year in Barcelona and the European Sting is the only Brussels-based EU media to be official media partner. Last year’s event drew more than 94,000 people and 2016 will see even more flocking to the Fira Gran Via during the week of 22-26 February. Past visitors have […]Google succumbs unconditionally to EU’s “right to be forgotten” ruling
February 16, 2016 by Leave a Comment
With an unprecedented move, Google has recently made a new, decisive turning decision to its never-ending story with the European Union. As reported last week, the American tech giant is about to take the “Right to be Forgotten” case to the next level. Google indeed will soon hide content from all its global domains, including the American […]“Airbnb and YouTube are two great examples of a crowd based capitalism”, key stakeholders outline the boundaries of the 4th Industrial Revolution in Davos
January 26, 2016 by Leave a Comment
On the second day of the World Economic Forum 2016 there was a truly interesting session on how digital platforms can increase innovation and help the digital economy grow. The lively session, named “A New Platform for the Digital Economy”, focused indeed on the core theme of 2016 Davos annual event, by analysing some of the key-aspects […]EU Commission announces Safe Harbour 2.0 and a wider Data protection reform
December 15, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The new EU-US data transfer deal, currently under development, will give the European Union the right to suspend the pact if privacy concerns are raised again, EU Justice Commissioner Věra Jourová said in a statement last week. For the first time, such right is formally guaranteed, and even though the pact is still a draft, the […]October’s EU strong digital mix: From Safe Harbour to Net Neutrality, Roaming and Snowden
November 3, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The month of October 2015, which began with another turning point in the Google-EU question and with a decisive judgment on data protection legislation will be remembered for a long time as a milestone for the digital European Union. On Net Neutrality First, last week, the European Parliament passed new rules on net neutrality which […]EU Court of Justice invalidates Safe Harbour and the game for thousands US businesses suddenly changes
October 13, 2015 by Leave a Comment
In what some American media already call a “dramatic judgement”, the European Court of Justice last week changed the course of history for data protection and handling between the EU and the United States. After having declared the “Safe Harbour” data transfer agreement invalid earlier last week, on October 06, the EU’s highest court last Friday […]Google and Apple suddenly realise that doing business in EU is tough?
October 6, 2015 by 1 Comment
Last week was definitely a reference for digital European Union. For those who have felt that the European Commission has specifically targeted Google for some reason, or are particularly interested in the impact that regulators can have on big companies like Google last week must have truly paid off in terms of newsfeed. The Google bias? Let’s start with Google’s story. Last week, European Competition Commissioner […]Oh, well, you are wrong, Google responds to the European Commission
September 1, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Many months post the European Commission filed formal antitrust actions against Google, the American tech-giant issued its response to the Commission last week. Google, which has always denied the European Union’s antitrust charges, this time decided to formalise its response and speak wide open. In short, the high interests and the enormous weight the case has in antitrust […]EU and US close to an agreement on data sharing amid European citizens’ concerns
August 12, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The European Union and the United States are close to sealing a deal on data sharing, which will affect the way banks and other businesses store data. As reported by Reuters last week, the European Commission is working with US authorities on the final details of the same commercial data-sharing deal that was frozen two years […]Nokia wins Commission’s approval for Alcatel-Lucent acquisition: a new way for antitrust cases?
July 29, 2015 by 1 Comment
The European Commission has given unconditional approval last Friday to the proposed acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent by Nokia, under the EU Merger Regulation. The 15.6 billion-euro merger with the French-American global telecommunications equipment company was announced by Nokia around 1 pm, last Friday, and later on by the European Commission through an official press release. No competition […]Google’s bare truth: Europe’s Chief denies EU accusations but admits they “don’t always get it right”
June 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment
When back in April the European Commission formally filed a complaint against Google it was clear that the action could have turned the page of the whole “EU vs Google” case. But after the tech giant responded and set out the initial arguments against the Commission’s findings, almost immediately, no further discussion about the thorny […]A Sting Exclusive: “The Digital Economy and Industry are no longer opposing terms”, Commissioner Oettinger underlines live from European Business Summit 2015
May 6, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Written by Günther Oettinger, Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society There are few business sectors emerging as fast as the digital economy. Just a year ago almost no one has ever heard of the taxi company Uber or the hotel substitute service Air B’n’B but now almost everyone knows about these two online services. Greater efficiency, the […]MasterCard at European Business Summit 2015: A focus on innovation will drive inclusive economic growth for Europe
May 6, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Written by Ann Cairns, President of MasterCard, International Markets This year’s European Business Summit’s entitled “Europe 4.0 – Delivering a vision for the future of Europe” falls on the same day as the general elections in the UK which could prove crucial for the future of both, the UK and Europe. At a time when […]
