• Ericsson and Nokia unite for ‘urgent’ Euro rallying cry
• AT&T shutters its FWA service in New York state
• BT powers down EV charging pilot

In today’s industry news roundup: Ericsson and Nokia are piling yet further pressure on Europe’s policymakers with a special summit; AT&T is ending its fixed wireless access broadband service in New York; BT isn’t going to convert its street cabinets into EV charging points after all; and much more!

The CEOs of fierce network infrastructure vendor rivals Ericsson and Nokia, Börje Ekholm and Pekka Lundmark, have joined forces to host the New Industrial Ambition for Europe summit in Brussels with the aim of catalysing “momentum across the EU to implement the actions required to deliver future European digitalisation success – including a more supportive regulatory environment and making the region more attractive to investors.” The summit, which is also supported by German tech giant SAP and Dutch chip manufacturing tech specialist ASML, was convened to “discuss how Europe can act on the warnings from respected European technology CEOs and implement the Draghi and Letta reports.” That Draghi report – The future of European competitiveness – was written last year by Mario Draghi and raised hopes among Europe’s telco community that some regulatory (and even fiscal) relief might be forthcoming from the region’s lawmakers, as TelecomTV reported at the time. (It’s also proving a popular report to cite, as it cropped up in the just-released report from Dutch financial services giant ING on the 2025 prospects for Europe’s telecom sector). The summit is just the latest reminder to Europe’s policymakers that the region’s telecom sector has grave concerns about the current rate of investment in the region’s digital infrastructure and services capabilities – industry body the GSMA also banged the same drum earlier this week. And the vendor CEOs made their positions quite clear during the summit. Ericsson’s Ekholm noted: “The unique coming together of four technology leaders highlights the urgency facing Europe’s economy to decision-makers in member states. Companies like Ericsson already invest disproportionally more in R&D in Europe. If other regions continue to race ahead, this model cannot survive. Those regions are embracing opportunity through investment, policy, and regulatory support. Europe is not. Yet the solution is well known. The EU must implement the Draghi and Letta Report recommendations to enable the technology sector to play our part in delivering future European prosperity.” Nokia’s Lundmark commented: “European competitiveness already has one foot in the morgue. Our real GDP is 30% less than the US’s, the EU’s share of the Fortune Global 500 is still falling and our digital future looks less certain than ever. The good news is that we can still turn this tanker around. Europe must create an environment in which businesses want to invest, especially on technologies such as AI, cloud and advanced connectivity. This cannot be a decade-long endeavour. Europe must act right now on issues like the 5G Toolbox and telco mergers. If Europe gets this right, it’s a massive opportunity. Draghi and Letta already provided the framework. So, let’s act.” What do they want? You can check out the “action calls” for Europe’s lawmakers here. 

Fixed wireless access (FWA) services are proving popular in the US, but AT&T has decided to withdraw its offering, Internet Air, in the state of New York due to the introduction of a new affordable broadband law, reports CNET. “While we are committed to providing reliable and affordable internet service to customers across the country, New York’s broadband law imposes harmful rate regulations that make it uneconomical for AT&T to invest in and expand our broadband infrastructure in the state,” the telco told CNET. “As a result, effective [from] 15 January 2025, we will no longer be able to offer AT&T Internet Air, our fixed-wireless internet service, to New York customers.” AT&T doesn’t have any fixed line access infrastructure in New York, so it is basically withdrawing from the fixed broadband services market in the state. For the full story, see the CNET article. 

BT Group’s plans to convert street cabinets into electric vehicle (EV) charging points appears to have run off the road. The concept was put into action last year when a pilot was launched in late April in East Lothian, Scotland, with a view to ultimately converting up to 60,000 cabinets. But as The Fast Charge discovered this week, that plan has been abandoned and BT’s specialist R&D unit, dubbed etc, has instead turned its attention to the “Wi-Fi connectivity challenge surrounding EVs”. 

Joe Biden might be packing up his White House desk, but he has still managed to get one more set of new rules in that aim to restrict China’s access to US technology. On Wednesday, the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) released two rules: one that updates export controls on advanced computing semiconductors; and another that places additional entities in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Singapore on the Entity List (the equivalent of the tech naughty step). “These rules will further target and strengthen our controls to help ensure that the PRC and others who seek to circumvent our laws and undermine US national security fail in their efforts,” stated Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “We will continue to safeguard our national security by restricting access to advanced semiconductors, aggressively enforcing our rules, and proactively addressing new and emerging threats,” she added. For further insight into the move, see this Bloomberg report. 

– The staff, TelecomTV