The European Sting is Your democratic, independent and top quality political newspaper specialized in European Union News. Unique Features: iSting & Harry Sting
Chinese smartphone player Xiaomi this morning unveiled its latest flagship smartphones, the Mi5 and Mi5 Pro, as it attempts to turnaround its fortunes after missing its handset target last year. The once fast-rising firm missed its 2015 handset target of 80 million by 12 per cent and also reportedly failed to reach its $1 billion […]
The 5G technology roadmap will include Wi-Fi and the use of unlicensed spectrum bands, said Nokia’s head of e2e mobile network solutions, Peter Merz. “Wi-Fi has become a de-facto service and needs to be integrated into 5G,” claimed Merz at a panel session on 5G technology, timelines and applications. “While the use of unlicensed spectrum […]
BlackBerry acquired UK security firm Encription, bolstering a move into cybersecurity consulting that was announced here at MWC. The company has created a Professional CyberSecurity Services practice which will offer organisations consulting services, tools and best practice. BlackBerry was tight-lipped on the detail of the Encription deal, which closed late last week (19 February). Talking […]
Patrick Collison, co-founder and chief executive of US payments company Stripe, used his keynote presentation this afternoon to speak about Atlas, a beta product designed to help entrepreneurs based in developing markets “gain access to the same business infrastructure enjoyed by tech companies here in Europe or the US”. Collison spoke of an uneven playing field, where […]
T-Mobile US followed rivals Verizon and AT&T by revealing plans to hold field trials for 5G later this year, with vendors Ericsson and Nokia announcing separate partnerships with the operator. The news does however come as somewhat of a surprise in light of comments made by T-Mobile US’ outspoken CEO John Legere just last week, who hit out at […]
Karim Khoja, Roshan CEO, urged the global community not to forget the ongoing connectivity issues in Afghanistan, in light of recent problems in other parts of the world. Khoja founded Roshan in 2003 and is one of six providers in the country, and the company now has more than 7 million subscribers. In his ‘Mobile […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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? […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Intel’s 5G media event at Congress was full of details about partnerships, products and prototypes, as if the company wanted to avoid the charges of hyperbole that surrounds many mentions of the next-generation technology this week. The company updated on how it is developing 5G with a range of partners, including other vendors as well as operators. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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: […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
