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(Source: Kristoffer Tripplaar/Alamy Stock Photo)
Microsoft has pulled out of a project to create what is described as the UK's largest AI data center to date, citing concerns about delays in establishing a power supply to the proposed site in the southeastern English county of Essex. Nscale, the UK-headquartered and Nvidia-backed company heading the project, insists it will still go ahead, and that, according to a BBC report, it was exploring alternative power sources. The data center was originally scheduled to receive its power supply by the end of this year but has since been told that this will not happen until at least 2030. Nscale and Microsoft are still collaborating on data center projects in Norway, Portugal and the US. (See Nscale makes big pitch as UK AI hyperscaler, and Nokia's on board.)
VEON acquires Rubicon in Uzbekistan
Dubai-headquartered VEON has acquired Rubicon Wireless in Uzbekistan for $207 million. Rubicon trades under the Perfectum brand. VEON said that the deal brings complementary spectrum and network assets into VEON's Beeline operations in Uzbekistan. Those assets include 115MHz of spectrum across the 850MHz and 3,800MHz bands, together with network equipment and infrastructure assets, including a 5G standalone network deployed using Nokia gear. (See Telecom is the cheapest way to distribute AI – VEON.)
Changes afoot at Telecom Italia
Senior management changes are afoot at Telecom Italia (TIM), with Poste Italiane's Mirko Mischiatti being appointed chief enterprise officer and Claudio Ongaro promoted internally to the position of chief technology officer. The appointments follow the announcement that Elio Schiavo and Leonardo de Carvalho Capdeville will leave TIM at the end of the year. State-owned Poste Italiane launched its takeover bid for TIM in July. (See TIM steps closer to state ownership via Poste Italiane takeover and Poste Italiane takeover would speed up TIM's ambitions – CEO.)
Arelion trumpets momentum in the Baltics
Connectivity provider Arelion reports growing momentum in the Baltics on its multi-terabit Helsinki-Warsaw route, with several new enterprise and wholesale customers now "onboarded." The route forms part of a ring connecting Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, with onward connectivity into neighboring countries.
Wi-Fi woes plague UK's remote workers
Remote-working Brits are forever apologizing for their patchy Wi-Fi, with more than half of those working remotely having had to turn off their camera during video calls to keep the connection stable, according to research by UK pay-TV and broadband provider Sky, which is plugging its new 1.6Gbit/s broadband package. More than two in five workers, apparently, say that the phrase "Sorry, my Wi-Fi is playing up" has become "routine" in their working lives. Of course, they may just be having a very bad hair day…
About the Author
Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading
Paul is based on the Isle of Wight, a rocky outcrop off the English coast that is home only to a colony of technology journalists and several thousand puffins.
He has worked as a writer and copy editor since the age of William Caxton, covering the design industry, D-list celebs, tourism and much, much more.
During the noughties Paul took time out from his page proofs and marker pens to run a small hotel with his other half in the wilds of Exmoor. There he developed a range of skills including carrying cooked breakfasts, lying to unwanted guests and stopping leaks with old towels.
Now back, slightly befuddled, in the world of online journalism, Paul is thoroughly engaged with the modern world, regularly firing up his VHS video recorder and accidentally sending text messages to strangers using a chipped Nokia feature phone.