Eurobites: O2 Telefónica puts its 5G SA core in the cloud with AWS, Nokia

Germany's O2 Telefónica has launched a 5G cloud core together with Nokia and AWS in a move that it says will improve customers' experience using its 5G Standalone (5G SA) network. The telco says this makes it "the first telecoms operator with an existing network [running] its 5G core on AWS." O2 Telefónica also notes data is being stored "either on O2 Telefónica premises or AWS infrastructure within Europe" as part of the hyperscaler deal. This particular cloud comes with many silver linings, according to the companies, including faster updates to network functions and products, better service resilience, and easier scaling of the network.

Nokia and Vodafone say they have successfully trialled Nokia's anyRAN open RAN approach together with Arm and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), using an Arm Neoverse-based compute platform. The trial, conducted at Nokia's Open RAN Innovation Center in Texas, consisted of completing an end-to-end Layer 3 data call on the 3.5GHz band. This was done using (deep breath) Arm-based general-purpose processors from Ampere and HPE's ProLiant RL300 server together with Nokia products like its Layer 1 accelerator, RAN software and 5G SA core.

Ofcom has published draft rules that would be imposed on social media and other online services to boost children's safety online. They include more robust age checks, algorithms filtering out unsafe content from children's feeds, and effective moderation. The UK regulator says that, if implemented, the rules would mean children would not normally have access to pornography, and would not be exposed to harmful content or added to group chats without their consent. Ofcom has previously warned children are currently exposed to harmful content online from an early age. A consultation on the proposed measures is now open until July 17.

Data from French regulator Arcep shows the number of SIM cards in the country has decreased for a second consecutive quarter, this time by 150,000, and stands at 83.3 million. This is the result of a continued decline in the number of prepaid SIM cards in circulation. The numbers don't include SIM cards used for machine-to-machine communications, which are on the rise.

Spacecom, an Israel-headquartered satellite operator, has partnered with Eutelsat OneWeb on a multi-orbit satellite communications trial. They are examining how a communication system combining Spacecom's geostationary orbit (GEO) satellites compares with the European firm's lower-Earth orbit (LEO) ones, and working to gauge the performance of Eutelsat OneWeb's satellite terminals in a variety of situations. Spacecom says the trial is especially focusing on emergency situations.

UK telco incumbent BT has teamed up with retired footballer Geoff Hurst to help older people acquire digital skills as part of a program by the charity AbilityNet, which is supported by BT volunteers. The aim is to offer older generations training in digital skills without talking down to them, as BT says its research reveals "older people are sick of being patronised over tech."