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Google privacy probe; Facebook data leak; Mediaset's merger vote

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

* Google LLC is facing a probe from the Irish Data Protection Commissioner over allegations it leaked the online habits of billions of users, London's The Daily Telegraph reports. Search engine Brave claimed that the Alphabet Inc. unit allows adtech companies to gather and share personal data from users on over 8.4 million websites.

* About 18 million phone numbers and associated profile numbers of Facebook Inc. users in the U.K. were discovered online by a cybersecurity researcher, TechCrunch reports. The database, which also included 133 million records of U.S. users of Facebook and more than 50 million from users in Vietnam, has since been taken offline.

* Mediaset SpA's shareholders voted to approve the plan to combine the company and Mediaset España Comunicación SA into a new holding company. Mediaset and Mediaset España will be merged into Mediaset Investment NV, Mediaset's Dutch direct subsidiary, which will be renamed MFE-Mediaforeurope NV. Vivendi SA said it regrets the approval of the proposed merger, and that the move to deny Simon Fiduciaria the right to vote will drag the company into a legal dispute. The French media group acquired about 1% stake in Mediaset España, representing about 3.3 million shares, Reuters reports.

UK AND IRELAND

* Former British Telecom CEO Gavin Patterson is joining enterprise software company Salesforce.com Inc. to take the newly created role of chairman for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Sky News reports, citing industry sources.

* Comcast Corp. unit Sky Ltd. is in talks to include public broadcaster Channel 4 (UK) in the pay TV giant's AdSmart platform, which allows the showing of different ads to households watching a similar program, Broadband TV News reports. A potential deal could reportedly include third-party channels represented by Channel 4's sales house, such as BT Sport and UKTV.

* The British Broadcasting Corp. paid out legal costs worth £2 million to settle a privacy case filed by singer Cliff Richard against the broadcaster, BBC News reports. A court ruled in favor of Richard, who claimed the BBC invaded his privacy over its coverage of a police raid on his home.

* British immersive cinema company Secret Cinema teamed up with SMG Live to debut "Secret Cinema Presents 'Casino Royale'," Variety reports. The production, which is based on the James Bond film of the same title, will premiere in Shanghai in November.

* Sky launched the WiFi Guarantee, which assures uninterrupted and optimized Wi-Fi signals for broadband customers in every room of their households. Customers who do not get improved speeds will get their money back.

* Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. is investing €70 million for its R&D efforts in Ireland over the next three years, Telecompaper reports. Research will cover sectors such as video, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and site-reliability engineering.

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA

* Upday GmbH & Co. KG, a joint venture between Axel Springer SE and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. that manages news app UPDAY, launched a new product family called "earli" to expand UPDAY's product range to users of iOS and Android devices.

* German political moderator Louis Klamroth launched his own production company, K2H Klamroth2Hohenfeld, together with cousin Nikolaus Klamroth and Moritz Hohenfeld, DWDL reports. Florida Entertainment LLC holds a minority share in the company.

FRANCE

* Carlyle Group LP is investing an undisclosed sum in Euro Techno Com in a deal scheduled to close during the second half, subject to regulatory approvals. Eaubonne, France-based Euro Techno Com provides equipment and supplies to cable and telecommunications operators in Europe and the U.S.

* Orange SA and Altitude Infrastructure signed a national agreement allowing Orange to market its offers on the fiber-to-the-home networks reaching 3.5 million connections in 22 departments. The deal covers all territories where Altitude Infrastructure operates, mainly in sparsely populated areas.

* French Minister of Culture Franck Riester suggested streaming companies and broadcasters allot about 16% of their revenues to fund local content as part of his plans for a new media law, Digital TV Europe reports. Companies that do not meet the minimum requirement of support will be banned from operating in France.

* A commercial court in Paris released an order forbidding Altice France SA's TV channels from discussing its carriage dispute with Iliad SA's Free, Telecompaper reports. Iliad alleged that Altice's coverage of the carriage dispute affected its customer turnover in the second quarter.

NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG

* T-Mobile Netherlands BV secured the activation of the e-sim, a built-in SIM card in smartphones, by obliging users to enter an SMS code, RTL News reports. The telco reportedly developed this security measure due to the vulnerability of unprotected e-sims to attacks.

* Dutch railway operator NS will phase out its radio phones and switch to a push-to-talk service via KPN NV's 4G network, Verbinding reports. The move came after successful tests with 50 users in Zwolle.

NORDIC COUNTRIES

* Tele2 AB is launching a new broadband service for 200,000 small and medium-sized Swedish businesses connected to Com Hem AB's network. The companies get the opportunity to pool their mobile and fixed services and receive a single invoice.

* Telia Co. AB unit Telia Norge AS struck a long-term agreement to use the fiber-based access network of energy and fiber company Tussa Energi AS in Norway's Sunnmøre region. The deal will help make mobile infrastructure in the region more robust, as well as help pave the way for a future 5G network.

* Ericsson teamed up with Qualcomm Inc. unit Qualcomm Technologies Inc. on the world's first 5G data call using dynamic spectrum sharing. The trial was made using spectrum sharing on a 3GPP Frequency Division Duplex low band.

SOUTHERN EUROPE

* MásMóvil Ibercom SA is one of the four companies bidding to acquire BT España, Telecompaper reports, citing sources mentioned by Expansión. British Telecom began discussions with potential buyers for the Spanish unit early this year as part of its international Global Services division's restructuring.

* Orange Espagne SAU tapped ZTE Corp. to manage a part of its 5G network, Advanced Television reports. The Orange unit has partnership agreements with Ericsson and Huawei, which manage 60% and 40% of the telco's 5G network, respectively.

* Telefónica SA moved its monthly board meeting to an earlier date due to worries about current market conditions, Reuters reports, citing a company spokesman. The meeting was moved to Sept. 10 from the regular end-of-month meetings as the company's shares are nearing its lowest level in about 22 years.

* Joao Sousa is stepping down as Altice Portugal's director to join CTT- Correios de Portugal SA, Telecompaper reports, citing Jornal Economico. The Altice Europe unit has chosen a replacement for Sousa, which it will announce in the coming days.

EASTERN EUROPE

* Russia's VTB Bank PJSC expects to own about 17% stake in Rostelecom PJSC as part of a deal to sell its stake in Tele2 Russia Telecom to the state-controlled telecom group, Reuters reports, citing VTB CEO Andrey Kostin. VTB and its partners currently own about 55% of Tele2 Russia, while Rostelecom owns about 45%.

* Mobile TeleSystems PJSC announced an open call for design submissions for its messenger platform, Telecompaper reports, citing Comnews.ru.

* In other MTS news, the company appointed Aleksey Barsegyan vice president for corporate and legal issues, Telecompaper reports. Barsegyan is replacing Ruslan Ibragimov, who is the company's vice president for relations.

FEATURED NEWS

Best of Nordics: Telia offers concessions for Bonnier deal; 'Top Gear' gets Nordic remake: Telia made concessions to get European Commission approval for the Bonnier Broadcasting deal, and Discovery will bring an adaptation of BBC's "Top Gear" in the Nordics.

5G Focus: US, Poland tie-up; ZTE deals; Russian telco trials: 5G Focus is a weekly global roundup of notable 5G trials, launches, use cases and major equipment supply contracts. It also features in-depth analysis of strategies, expansion plans, business models and other related initiatives.

FEATURED RESEARCH

Technology: Global Q2'19 smart TV growth rate slows; market set for a bounce in H2'19: Smart TV shipments grew in the second quarter as Xiaomi is making a name for itself in the midrange segment, while competition in the premium space is fierce with average selling prices climbing ever higher.

Economics of Internet: OTT in Asia-Pacific: Current state of market: Kagan presents a roundup of select over-the-top services in the Asia-Pacific region recently added to our OTT Services & Devices database.

Anne Freier, Sylvia Edwards Davis, Marieke Pijnappels and Esben Svendsen contributed to this report.

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