The European Union trade chief Karel De Gucht believes he’s found a solution to a trade dispute with China over telecom equipment subsidies. The EU has been at loggerheads with China, its second-largest trade partner behind the U.S., over what the EU claims are illegal subsidies for mobile network equipment made by Chinese companies.
Following a trade conference in Rome on Oct. 14, De Gucht told Reuters that the trade partners had reached an agreement, and he’d be asking the European commissioners to drop the case.
Chinese telecom equipment makers Huawei and ZTE export approximately €1 billion ($1.26 billion) worth of products annually to the EU, competing directly with European-based equipment makers Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks and Alcatel Lucent.
The details of the agreement are expected to be released in the coming days. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will be meeting with top EU officials in Milan, Italy, later this week.
More telecom news from Europe:
EU fines Deutsche Telekom and its Slovak subsidiary €70 million ($88.5 million ). The EU announced the combined fine for DT and its subsidiary for blocking its competitors in Slovakia’s Internet market. The companies are accused of preventing rivals from accessing Slovak Telekom’s broadband infrastructure.
Orange considering IPO of African and Middle East assets. France’s largest carrier may offer its fast growing holdings in Africa and the Middle East up for an initial public offering, Bloomberg reports. An IPO would give the telecom funds to focus on its European operations. Orange has established businesses in 21 countries in the Middle East and Africa and counts 95 million customers in the region.
DT and China Mobile enter joint connected car venture. DT will combine its expertise with the resources of the world’s largest mobile operator in a connected car joint venture. The partnership will focus on the development of connected car services, capitalizing on DT’s Connected Car platform and telematics expertise and taking advantage of China Mobile’s extensive LTE network, customer base and service resources.
Ofcom says U.K. will be first to introduce new wireless “white space” tech. U.K. telecom agency Ofcom is conducting trials of a TV white space technology that uses the gaps in radio spectrum between frequency bands to offer new wireless applications. Compared to other wireless technologies, such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, the radio waves used by TV white space devices can travel longer distances and more easily through walls as it generally is lower in the spectrum band. The agency claims that the U.K. will likely be the first country in Europe to use the technology. Ofcom is currently working the trials with Google and ZSL London Zoo to stream live footage to YouTube. You can check out the tech in action by viewing the live stream of the London Zoo’s meerkats, otters and Galapagos turtles here.
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