Google will face charges if it doesn’t improve on its proposed settlement in an ongoing antitrust case with EU regulators, said EU Antitrust Commissioner Joaquin Almunia in a speech, the prepared text of which published Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1qr3xRj). The case centers on how Google presents search results related to its competitors. “Fresh evidence” from complaints filed in response Google’s proposed antitrust settlement factored heavily into Almunia’s decision to reject the proposal, he said. “I have communicated this to the company asking them to improve its proposals,” Almunia said. “We now need to see if Google can address these issues and allay our concerns.” Google competitors and consumer advocates lambasted the proposal when it was unveiled.

"Europe needs to reform and forge a true digital single market,” said Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt in an essay published on the European Commission’s (EC) website (http://bit.ly/1ylRKhy). If Europe establishes a digital single market, “the macroeconomic benefits would be enormous,” he said. Citing European Policy Centre research (http://www.epc.eu/dsm/1/), Schmidt said a single digital market in Europe could raise EU GDP by at least 4 percent by 2020, generating 250 billion euros of “additional growth.” But European companies have lagged in technology adoption, partially due to hesitancy about obtaining individual licenses to operate in each of the 28 EU countries, he said. “If regulatory barriers are removed, startups could directly access half a billion European consumers, a market that’s larger than the US, where technology companies have the ability to achieve scale before they expand internationally.” The essay was posted on the site for Neelie Kroes, a European commissioner and head of the EC’s digital agenda. Kroes has made a single digital market a top priority of her tenure, but Google has faced ongoing pushback from EU antitrust officials (CD Sept 22 p10).

Governments must be wary of the growing capacity for unlawful and arbitrary surveillance as technology quickly advances, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said Friday before the U.N. Human Rights Council (http://bit.ly/1qKL72P). The commissioner’s office said it submitted a report (http://bit.ly/1yqH5yH) that concluded “the technological platforms upon which global political, economic and social life are increasingly reliant are not only vulnerable to mass surveillance, they may actually facilitate it.” The U.N. General Assembly requested the report and will hear its findings during the General Assembly’s 69th session, beginning Tuesday.

Comcast teamed with Liberty Global in a partnership that would give many Comcast Xfinity and Liberty Global Internet customers access to millions of new Wi-Fi access points in various countries by next year. Comcast has more than 3 million Xfinity Wi-Fi hot spots in the U.S., and Liberty Global has more than 2.5 million Wi-Fi home spots in Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, and other European countries, Comcast said Thursday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1wjrrq4). The agreement gives many of the 11 million Americans visiting Europe each year, and the 12 million Europeans visiting the U.S. each year, a free alternative to cellular data roaming, it said.

Smartphones will account for two of three mobile connections globally by 2020, said the GSM Association of mobile operators in a study released Thursday (http://bit.ly/1nOleL5). The study said smartphones account for one of every three mobile connections today, or more than 2 billion mobile connections. It forecast smartphone connections will grow threefold over the next six years, reaching 6 billion by 2020, to two-thirds of the 9 billion mobile connections by that time. Basic phones, feature phones and data terminals such as tablets, dongles and routers will be the remainder, it said. “The smartphone has sparked a wave of global innovation that has brought new services to millions and efficiencies to businesses of every type,” it said. “Smartphones will be the driving force of mobile industry growth over the next six years, with 1 billion new smartphone connections expected over the next 18 months.” Emerging markets overtook the “developed world” in terms of smartphone connections three years ago and today account for two of every three smartphones on the planet, the new study said. It predicted that by 2020, four of five smartphone connections worldwide will come from the developing world. China led the world with 629.2 million smartphone connections at the end of Q2, followed by the U.S. (196.8 million connections), Brazil (141.8 million), India (111 million) and Indonesia (95 million). In many developed markets, smartphone penetration is approaching the 80 percent “ceiling” at which growth tends to slow, the study said. Smartphone adoption is forecast to reach 75 percent in Europe and North America by 2020, though smartphone growth in these two regions has slowed in recent years, it said. Smartphone connections grew 35 percent in North America and 39 percent in Europe between 2010 and 2013, compared with growth rates higher than 80 percent during that same period in Asia Pacific and Latin America, it said.

European over-the-top video revenue is expected to grow 43 percent this year, down from the 51 percent growth in 2013, a Strategy Analytics report said. Most of the growth likely will occur within the online subscription VOD and ad-supported video business models, Strategy Analytics said Tuesday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1CJaRSp). That will probably lift the market above $9.45 billion by the end of 2018, it said. SVOD revenue was led by Netflix, it said. The average OTT video spend per broadband user in Western Europe is about four times that of those in central and eastern Europe, it said.

Roku expanded internationally with the launch of the Roku Powered program, it said Monday (http://bit.ly/1ueMhEU). The program, targeted to pay TV service providers outside of the U.S., enables providers to deliver streaming content to subscribers over the Internet. Roku said the combination of its software, “cost-effective” hardware design and content selection make its platform well suited to pay TV providers looking for a turnkey method for offering Internet-delivered entertainment to their customers. The program allows pay TV providers a way to integrate customizable content with their services, offer an upgrade option for subscribers and reduce subscriber churn, Roku said. Roku Powered, which includes ongoing software upgrades, allows operator branding, custom user interface themes, built-in promotional capabilities, “and control of the streaming content available through the platform,” the company said. Roku initiated the approach through a partnership with BSkyB, which began offering subscribers the NOW TV Box in July 2013.

Sprint began offering International Wi-Fi calling “back to the United States” at no additional cost, the company said Thursday. The Samsung Galaxy S 4 with Sprint Spark service will be the first smartphone from Sprint to get international Wi-Fi calling via an over-the-air software update, which will enable subscribers traveling abroad to make and receive calls with the U.S., U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico at no additional charge while connected to Wi-Fi, the carrier said. Additional Android phones will be compatible following software upgrades later this year, a Sprint spokesman told us. Other phones on the Sprint network equipped for Wi-Fi Calling include various HTC One models, the LG G3, LG G Flex, Samsung Galaxy S 4 Mini, Samsung Galaxy S 5, Samsung Galaxy S 5 Sport, Samsung Galaxy Mega, Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and the upcoming Sharp Aquos Crystal. The spokesman didn’t say whether iPhones or Windows Phone devices would be enabled for Wi-Fi calling, nor did he address whether U.S.-originated international Wi-Fi calling with no additional charges would be available in the future.

O3b Networks signed a multiyear agreement to provide trunking services to Solomon Telekom. Solomon Telekom will use O3b as its backhaul provider to offer Internet service to the Solomon Islands, O3b said Monday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1p5EZNh). The islands, numbering more than 1,000, make the country the fifth-largest nation in the Oceania region, noted O3b.

"Mid-teens” are the most “technology-savvy” consumers in the U.K., British regulator Ofcom said Wednesday in a report (http://bit.ly/1skbFGz). It canvassed 2,000 adults and 800 children, and also found that 6-year-olds “have the same understanding of communications technology as 45 year olds,” it said. “We hit our peak confidence and understanding of digital communications and technology when we are in our mid-teens,” the report said. “This drops gradually up to our late 50s and then falls rapidly from 60 and beyond.” As a result of growing up in the digital age, 12- to 15-year-olds “are developing fundamentally different communication habits than older generations, even compared to the advanced 16-24 age group,” it said. Kids ages 12-15 “are turning away from talking on the telephone,” it said. Just 3 percent of their communications time is spent making voice calls, while the vast majority (94 percent) is text-based through instant messaging and social networking, it said. “By contrast, older generations still find it good to talk,” it said, citing the 20 percent of adults’ communications time that’s spent on the phone on average. “While adults also embrace digital text-based communications, the traditional email is most popular,” said Ofcom.