Spanish telecom giant Telefónica will provide wireless Internet connections for the high-end electric car the Tesla S in Europe ― and reportedly its getting paid millions to do it. While the carrier showed off the car at the Mobile World Congress event in February, Telefónica officially announced the agreement with Tesla on April 2 to provide connectivity to the cars in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain. One source claims that Tesla paid the carrier millions to seal the deal. In the United States, a similar partnership between Tesla and AT&T was announced in January.
The Tesla features a 17-inch touchscreen between the driver and front passenger seats. In Europe, Telefonica’s global machine-to-machine solution, powered by Jasper, will connect the cars to enable such features as navigation, online music and Internet browsing. The connectivity will also be used for remote vehicle diagnostics, relaying information about the car’s safety, security and performance to the driver and Tesla service in real time.
For more about the game changers in connected cars, check out the RCR Wireless News interview with Liz Kerton of the AutoTech Council at the Mobile World Congress.
Controversial net neutrality bill headed for EU vote: The European Parliament is set to vote on a package of telecom rules April 3 that would end roaming charges within European Union countries and enforce net neutrality, meaning carriers cannot favor one type of Internet use over another in the allocation of bandwidth. Ahead of the vote, four major telecom groups on the continent issued a joint statement blasting the rules as restrictive, saying that the entire legislation risked becoming “anti-innovation and anti-consumer choice.” Natalie Kroes, VP of the European Commission who is responsible for the Digital Agenda, has defended net neutrality almost as a civil right calling it “non-discrimination online.”
More telecom news from Europe:
German regulator tells Telefónica to give up spectrum if its acquisition of KPN’s E-Plus passes the European Commission. The Bundesnetzagentur says that the combination of Germany’s No. 3 and No. 4 mobile operators would hold too much capacity in the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands.
French telecom Bouygues is giving Vivendi an extra two weeks to consider its bid for SFR. Currently, Vivendi is in exclusive negotiations with Numericable, but those talks are supposed to end this week. Bouygues extended its proposal until April 25 and added a break up fee of $689 million if regulators reject the combination of the No. 3 carrier in the country, Bouygues, with the No. 2 carrier SFR.
América Móvil moves closer to deal with Telekom Austria. The Austrian state holding company has authorized negotiations with the Mexican telecom América Móvil owned by billionaire Carlos Slim. Under discussion is a deal that would pool the state’s 28% stake in Telekom Austria stake with America Movil’s 27%.
