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Zuckerberg apologizes to EU parliament; Samsung to open AI hubs in UK, Russia

TOP NEWS

* Facebook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized to European Parliament members for the company's missteps, echoing his testimony to U.S. lawmakers in saying Facebook had failed "to take a broad enough view of our responsibility." He mentioned Facebook's recent actions to strengthen data protection, including suspending 200 applications suspected of misusing user data.

* Samsung Group unit Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. will open new artificial intelligence research centers in the U.K. and Russia on May 22 and May 29, respectively, in a goal to expand its AI researchers to about 1,000 globally by 2020. The research hub in the U.K. will be led by Andrew Blake, former director of Microsoft Corp.s Cambridge Laboratory, while Professor Victor Lempitsky will lead research in AI algorithms in the Moscow hub.

PAN-EUROPEAN

* Discovery Inc. unit Eurosport will launch a 4K channel May 27 to cover the French Open tennis tournament, Digital TV Europe reports. The channel will be accessible in the U.K. through Sky PLC's Sky Q and on TV platforms of Liberty Global PLC unit Virgin Media, in France through Vivendi SA unit Canal Plus Group SA's new Canal 4K Ultra HD box, in Germany via the HD+ platform and in Spain via Orange SA unit Orange España.

* Yelp Inc. has submitted a complaint with European Union antitrust regulators against Google Inc. over the Alphabet Inc. unit's alleged abuse of its market dominance, London's Financial Times reports. Yelp said the search company is listing its own products in search results over its rivals.

UK AND IRELAND

* British Telecom has renewed its content agreement with Sunset+Vine Productions Ltd. for four years to cover Premier League and Europa League soccer and Aviva Premiership rugby, The (London) Daily Telegraph reports. The operator is said to have pressured Sunset+Vine to agree to a lower-price contract renewal in exchange for a four-year deal.

* British Chancellor Philip Hammond targets to make full-fiber broadband available to about 15 million homes and businesses by 2025, Reuters reports. The broadband is expected to be 40 times faster than that offered by telecom operators in the U.K.

* ITV Studios Ltd. unit Shiver has appointed Aidan Hansell as head of development, TBI Vision reports. Hansell, who will lead a new team in London and Manchester, will report directly to Shiver Creative Director Ana De Moraes. ITV Studios is a unit of ITV PLC.

GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA

* Sky Deutschland GmbH has relaunched its Sky Go service to include additional linear TV channels that consumers can watch on smartphones and tablets.

* Germany's digital association Digitale Gesellschaft eV has developed a portal that informs consumers about their privacy rights in light of the new EU data protection rules. The portal has been created with support from the country's Federal Ministry of Justice.

* Swiss price watchdog Preisüberwacher has demanded Swisscom AG to adjust the price for its landline calls on mobile networks to a maximum price of 7.5 centimes per minute, reports Neue Zuercher Zeitung.

* The German producer alliance Allianz Deutscher Produzenten-Film und Fernsehen eV has vetoed allowing public broadcasters to show European licensed content in their media libraries up to 30 days after broadcasting.

FRANCE

* TF1 Group group filed a draft of a takeover bid for the remaining capital of auFeminin.com at a price of €39.47 per share, Challenges reports. TF1 purchased almost 80% of Aufeminin from Axel Springer SE in April and had announced its intention to acquire the remainder in order to delist the company.

* Chinese device manufacturer Xiaomi Inc. opened its first flagship store in Paris, Challenges reports. The company aims to increase its presence in Europe as the growth in the Chinese market slows down.

* Overall in 2017, Orange, Altice NV unit SFR Group SA, Iliad unit Free and Bouygues Telecom SA invested €660 million more in fixed and mobile networks than in 2016, for a total of €9.6 billion, excluding frequencies, according to regulator ARCEP. ARCEP President Sébastien Soriano said the figure reflects the sector's growing commitment in line with France's infrastructure needs and urged operators not to fall behind on 5G.

NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG

* The Dutch Foundation for Digital Infrastructure has urged the Dutch government and EU parliamentarians to protest against a new EU bill that will oblige providers to pre-filter content for copyright violations. The foundation said the legislation would clash with the free use of internet and will encourage censorship.

NORDIC COUNTRIES

* Netflix Inc. has entered into a multiyear exclusive agreement with Danish producer Kim Magnusson, with the goal of creating original feature films for the Nordic region, Variety reports. The streaming giant plans to create content in local languages.

* TDC A/S has asked the Nasdaq Copenhagen to delist its shares. The request comes after DK Telekommunikation ApS exercised its right to purchase outstanding shares in TDC. A full delisting is expected to take place June 4.

* Ericsson and Nokia Corp. saw a share price drop in Stockholm on Monday, writes Dagens Industri. Ericsson's and Nokia's share prices fell by 1.5% and 1.9%, respectively. The share price was impacted by the U.S.-China trade talks and the possible lifting of sanctions against ZTE Corp. Nokia and Ericsson expect order gains if the U.S. imposes sanctions on ZTE, according to Kauppalehti.

SOUTHERN EUROPE

* Cellnex Telecom SA has been tapped to provide technological services for LOVEStv, the upcoming Hybrid broadcast broadband TV platform that will be jointly launched by Spanish public broadcaster RTVE, Atresmedia and Mediaset SpA unit Mediaset España Comunicación SA.

* Telecom Italia SpA struck a deal to bring classic children's cartoons from Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. to video-on-demand service TIMvision, Telecompaper reports. As a result, TIMvision subscribers will get on-demand access to the Time Warner Inc. unit's cartoons including "Popeye," "Tom & Jerry" and "The Scooby-Doo Show."

* Spanish telecom giant Telefónica SA rolled out a 4K set-top box for its pay TV platform Movistar Plus, but without any 4K content available via the platform, Advanced Television reports. The device, which can be connected via Wi-Fi with no cables, enables access to Movistar Plus on multiple set-top boxes at home.

* Telefónica claims to have expanded its fiber-to-the-home network to 20 million households across Spain, Advanced Television reports. Orange España follows with 12 million homes covered, followed by Vodafone Group PLC's Vodafone España SAU with 10.3 million households.

EASTERN EUROPE

* Telekom Austria Group's Bulgarian mobile operator unit Mobiltel, which previously operated as Mtel, has completed its rebranding as A1 Bulgaria, The Sofia Globe reports. The name change, announced in 2017, reportedly reflects the expansion of A1 Bulgaria's offering to home internet, cable TV and cloud services. Telekom Austria is a unit of América Móvil SAB de CV.

* Orange Polska SA could start its own bank as its partnership with mBank may be terminated this year, Telecompaper reports, citing Puls Biznesu. The partnership, which was eyeing 1 million clients over a three-year period, managed to get only 440,000 clients, not all of whom are active, according to the report.

* Russian pay TV operator Tricolor TV has added the Ultra HD Cinema channel to its lineup, Digital TV Europe reports. The new channel will offer films in 4K/Ultra HD resolution with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound quality.

FEATURED NEWS

Data Dispatch: Deutsche Telekom to preserve German dominance despite Vodafone-LG challenge: Deutsche Telekom has criticized the proposed combination of Vodafone and Liberty Global in its domestic German market, warning of a cable monopoly. However, its overall home dominance is unlikely to be challenged.

The Week Ahead: Ready or not, here comes GDPR: The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation is set to go into effect on May 25, impacting how companies of all sizes collect, store and maintain users' personal data.

FEATURED RESEARCH

Wireless Investor: SCWS World 2018: more than 300,000 small cells needed across Europe: At this week's SCWS World 2018 in London, experts stressed that Europe's deficiency of small cells makes it difficult to see how the continent will meet exploding mobile broadband service demands.

Anne Freier, Sylvia Edwards Davis, Charlotte van Hek and Gerard O'Dwyer contributed to this report.

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