African smartphone shipments contracted by 39% year-over-year in the third quarter as rising costs continue to shift vendors’ focus away from aggressive expansion and toward a more selective, higher-margin sales strategy, according to a new Omdia report. In Europe, shipments fell by 19% over the same period. Overall, global shipments of smartphones were down 20%, to 254.7 million units. The North America region recorded the lowest decline, of just 1%. Omdia expects the global smartphone market to continue its slide in 2027, dented by high-bandwidth memory shortages and constraints on conventional memory supply.

Deutsche Telekom puts T-Mobile plan on hold, says report

Deutsche Telekom has put plans for a full combination with its T-Mobile US unit on hold, according to a report on Bloomberg (paywall may apply), which first mooted the possibility of such a deal in April. The German operator, said Bloomberg, has decided against a formal bid partly due to opposition from its works council, though it added that the plan could be revived in the future. T-Mobile executives also expressed opposition to the deal, the report said.

Alibaba Cloud sets up shop in Amsterdam

Chinese hyperscaler Alibaba Cloud has launched its first public cloud region in the Netherlands, siting two new data centers in Amsterdam. As part of the new offering, the company plans to brings a suite of agentic AI services to the region, including security guardrails and an “intelligent operations” platform.

O2 boosts coverage in UK holiday parks

O2 is upgrading its 4G and 5G mobile service at seven Haven holiday parks in the UK in partnership with infrastructure-as-a-service provider Freshwave. The project forms part of O2’s wider Mobile Transformation Plan, which sees the operator investing around £700 million (US$933 million) this year to improve mobile coverage across the UK. (See Eurobites: O2 leans on lampposts for Westminster coverage boost.)

Net Insight’s weak Q3

Net Insight, the Swedish company that provides, among other products, advanced time synchronization gear for 5G networks, saw its net sales decrease by 29% year-over-year in the third quarter to 103.9 million Swedish kronor ($10.5 million). Commenting on the results, CEO Andreas Eriksson said: “Although the third quarter remained financially weak, revenue improved compared with the previous quarter. We continue to see commercial progress in both Media and Time Synchronization. Our focus remains on converting these opportunities into revenue and building a broader and more recurring business.”

Ofcom examines age assurance as social media ban looms

UK communications regulator Ofcom has published a “rapid assessment” of age assurance methods as the country’s ban on social media for under-16s looms. It has identified four such methods it considers capable of being highly effective at 16 or over, namely photo ID matching, the use of banking information, digital identity services and facial age estimation. Among the methods of age assurance it does not consider highly effective at any age are self-declaration and verifiable parental consent. The UK government is hoping the first set of regulations will come into effect in the spring.

ETSI addresses GenAI deepfakes problem

EU standards body ETSI has released a new technical specification intended to reduce the risk of GenAI systems producing harmful deepfakes. ETSI TS 104 275 aims to strengthen accountability among AI developers and operators by providing practical measures and safeguards that demonstrate how to mitigate deepfake-related risks.