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Ericsson CEO departure; Huawei phone launch; CityFibre's FibreNation bid

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Ericsson CEO departure; Huawei phone launch; CityFibre's FibreNation bid

The Daily Dose LIVE returns to the City of London on Tuesday, Oct.1. Join us for a timely panel discussion on the vulnerabilities facing corporate Europe in a period of deep political, policy and economic uncertainty. Register today to secure your place at this popular breakfast event.

TOP NEWS

* Ericsson CEO Börje Ekholm could step down in the next six months, Dagens Industri reports, citing sources. Some of Ericsson's largest owners reportedly want to replace Ekholm with Saab CEO Håkan Buskhe. Ekholm was appointed CEO after Hans Vestberg was ousted over weak results.

* Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. is pushing through with plans to launch its new high-end smartphones in Europe, Reuters reports, citing a source. Huawei's new Mate 30 line of phones is set to be unveiled on Sept. 18 in Munich. The launch came despite the possibility that Huawei may not be able to offer Google LLC's apps and Android operating system on its phones. Alphabet Inc. owns Google.

* CityFibre Infrastructure Holdings PLC is among three parties interested in acquiring FibreNation, a fiber broadband venture created by TalkTalk Telecom Group PLC, Sky News reports, citing industry sources. Other infrastructure funds are also reportedly in discussions with TalkTalk and its advisers at investment bank Lazard Ltd. over their bids.

* Ongoing trade tensions between the U.S. and China should not have a significant impact on sales of Apple Inc.'s newest iPhones, but still pose a risk to the tech giant's long-term position in China, analysts said.

PAN-EUROPEAN

* Apple ended contracts with hundreds of employees originally hired to listen to recordings on the tech giant's voice assistant platform Siri, London's The Guardian reports. The decision came after the newspaper's earlier story that the workers frequently heard confidential medical data and couples having sex while checking the recordings.

* France and Germany will propose setting aside public money to invest in local data storage facilities across Europe, Reuters reports. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the move will stop Europe from depending on foreign data centers and enable investments in artificial intelligence.

* The European Commission urged stakeholders to participate in a dialogue on the application of Article 17 of the EU copyright directive, which relates to use of protected content by online content-sharing services. The first meeting under the initiative will be held Oct. 15 in Brussels.

UK AND IRELAND

* Huawei has transferred many of its mobile software services from its Shenzhen headquarters to an Irish subsidiary, Aspiegel Ltd., Dublin's The Irish Times reports. The unit will be responsible for managing the tech equipment vendor's mobile service outside mainland China, with a focus on Europe.

* British Telecom's infrastructure division Openreach Ltd. teamed up with Highlands and Islands Enterprise to roll out gigabit fiber broadband services in Scotland's Outer Hebrides area, Advanced Television reports. The launch is part of the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband initiative.

* Mobile operator EE Ltd. launched unlimited 4G and 5G data plans for SIM-only and smartphone plan customers. The basic plan costs £34 per month for unlimited data on a 4G SIM-only phone.

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA

* Funke Mediengruppe GmbH & Co. KGaA has centralized the marketing of its regional publications. Funke Sales GmbH will take over marketing for all newspapers, websites, local radio stations and outdoor advertising.

FRANCE

* Eutelsat Communications SA announced the arrival of the EUTELSAT 5 West B satellite at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, where it is due to launch on a Proton Breeze M rocket in September. The satellite will serve video markets in Europe and North Africa.

* Canal Plus SA increased its in-house budget from €60 million to €90 million for series per year, Les Echos reports. The Vivendi SA unit also announced plans to broadcast 10 new externally produced features and series over the course of the year.

* The European Commission granted regulatory approval to the proposed acquisition of U.S. art and collectibles broker Sotheby's by Next Alt SARL, the personal holding company of Altice Europe's majority shareholder Patrick Drahi.

NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM and LUXEMBOURG

* Luxembourg-based media company RTL Group SA reported a turnover of €3.2 billion and net profit of €538 million in the first half of 2019, NRC reports. The growth was mainly due to the digital services of the company, including Dutch streaming service Videoland. Meanwhile, RTL Group said Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland GmbH will oversee the company's ad-tech business across Europe, through the Smartclip brand. The company was also looking into strategic partnerships for its SpotX Global business.

* Dutch media company Talpa Holding NV decided not to set up its own news service, NOS reports. Research showed that the plan for the news provision was not feasible, and Talpa now plans to further develop its news brand Hart van Nederland.

* Public broadcaster NPO has no plans to stop operating Dutch streaming service NLziet, TotaalTV reports. A working group within NPO prepared a document recommending to focus on their own NPO Start Plus payment service, but the broadcaster's board rejected the recommendations.

NORDIC COUNTRIES

* Norwegian telecom regulator is planning a Net Neutrality Forum in October. The forum is a meeting place for different players in the telecom sector to discuss net neutrality, and specifically plans for revised European net neutrality guidelines.

* Nordic Entertainment Group AB said its next original series is a food documentary called "Food & Fire," which will premiere exclusively on the Viaplay streaming service in the Nordics in autumn. The six-part series is a follow-up to the series "Four Hands Menu."

SOUTHERN EUROPE

* Altice Portugal is adding new content, a multi-view platform and Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime Video streaming service to its MEO TV platform, Advanced Television reports. MEO TV's new nonlinear service Meo Filmes e Séries will include content from the British Broadcasting Corp., AXN, AMC (US), Cartoon Network and film distributor Cinemundo.

* Spanish digital TV company Mirada opened a new office in Castellon de la Plana, in the country's northern Valencia region, Telecompaper reports.

EASTERN EUROPE

* Telekom Slovenije dd named Matjaž Merkan as its new CEO, replacing Rudolf Skobe, Broadband TV News reports, citing The Slovenia Times. Merkan previously was head of U.S.-owned company Weiler Abrasives.

* Poland's Cyfrowy Polsat SA expanded the range of services available on its Evobox HD set-top boxes, Digital TV Europe reports. The device now offers catch-up, time-shifted TV and restart functionalities.

FEATURED NEWS

Data Dispatch Asia-Pacific: Vodafone Idea losing steam after 2018 merger as disruptive rival makes gains: India's newly merged telco Vodafone Idea has gradually lost market share and revenue, while recent entrant Reliance Jio has seen rapid growth thanks to its aggressive pricing strategy.

FEATURED RESEARCH

Economics of TV & Film: Disney's 2018 video releases draw in big bucks: Walt Disney has had an unprecedented run lately when it comes to hit films, and it was the top studio once again in terms of video cost coverage. Its 10 films took in $2.00 billion in theatrical rentals and $1.25 billion in video cash flow.

Global Multichannel: Global markets update — Spain: Kagan has recently updated Global Multichannel and Broadband analyses for Spain, as well as analyses for related operators Telefónica, Vodafone Espana, Orange Espagne and Euskaltel.

Global Multichannel: Multichannel market overview: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Ukraine: This report reviews multichannel markets of four former Soviet republics: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Ukraine.

Anne Freier, Amanda Kelly, Marieke Pijnappels and Esben Svendsen contributed to this report.

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