Vodafone has apparently been unsuccessful in its efforts to pause a 508 million (US$617 million) patent dispute over 3G technology brought by Spanish technology company Top Optimized Technologies (TOT) in the UK, while a related dispute is conducted in Madrid.
In November, a Law360 report said Vodafone asked a judge in London to delay the suit in the UK to avoid the risk of inconsistent judgments.
The UK-based operator said that although the Spanish court had dismissed the suit alleging corporate espionage and patent infringement against Huawei and Vodafone, TOT had filed an appeal in Madrid with just Huawei as the respondent.
France-based operator Orange flagged the expansion of its venture capital activities with the creation of a new, independent unit called Orange Ventures that will have a pot of around 350 million (US$425.4 million) for startup investments.
Orange Ventures has taken over the portfolio of Orange Digital Ventures, which was launched with an initial funding allocation of 20 million ($24.3 million) in 2015 and grew into a 150 million ($182.4 million) corporate early-stage investment fund.
The aim is to give the VC unit greater freedom to make investment decisions, with a focus on high-growth sectors in traditional Orange territory such as connectivity, cybersecurity, the digital enterprise and financial services, as well as new areas such as e-health. It seems likely that the digital has been dropped from the unit s name as it is no longer deemed necessary in today s increasingly digital environment.