EMEA Tier-1 Telcos – Page 124
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Strategy & Change
DT’s Leroy backs Greek digitalisation plans
Head of Europe Dominique Leroy joins the campaign trail to promote Greek investment via OTE minority subsidiary. €3bn full-fibre investment plan in action to support national digital transformation. Bureaucracy remains a sticking point.
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Network & Infra
Group to sell Spanish copper amid infrastructure tidy-up
Cinco Días report claims private equity firm Macquarie will take over sections of legacy infrastructure from Spanish incumbent, boosting its network assets in the country. Telefónica’s focus remains on hitting a 2025 target for completing its fibre network. While Macquarie comes in, KKR exits Telxius as Telefónica and Pontegadea ...
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Premium
Auction fate unknown as Telkom mulls interdict U-turn
Spectrum auction may still go ahead, despite initial Telkom protests. Vodacom and MTN unite with South African regulator to fight deferral. Telkom offers to withdraw its interdict, provided rivals are open to an “expedited review” of its complaints. Any delay would represent a sixth postponement of the auction, currently ...
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Partnerships & Alliances
BT ties with SES on ‘multi-orbit’ data and IoT
Global division looking to satcomms to expand mining sector presence and boost search for growth. Tie-up bridges various in-vogue areas of enterprise IoT, satellite, not-spot coverage, and cloud productised services. Deal appears precursor to broader revamp of BT’s ecosystem at intersection of wireless and satcomms.
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Venturing & Investments
Group adds network software duo to Innovation Pool
DT invests in Teridion for multi-cloud WAN connectivity via TIP vehicle. New partnership and minority stake in Israel-based WAN specialist aimed at improving internet connectivity performance for enterprises. Deal adds another prong to DT’s SD-WAN approach. TIP also adds software-based comms player SignalWire to portfolio, with carrier services arm ...
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Suppliers & SCM
Safaricom lauds TIBCO for service and network advances
Kipkirui says microservices and cloud-native APIs from longstanding partner is key in helping OpCo to become an “insights-led, tech-driven company”. Adds that Safaricom has been able to maintain “maximum value” from capex invested in TIBCO. OpCo aims to migrate entire TIBCO BPM stack from on-prem to public cloud by ...
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Public Affairs
Vodacom, MTN pick sides in South African auction saga
Operators unite with South African regulator as rival Telkom requests further delays. Any success for Telkom would represent a sixth postponement of the auction, currently set to take place by the end of March.
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Partnerships & Alliances
O2 Germany teams with Westenergie Breitband for fixed access
German operator signs up seventh wholesale partner. New deal with E.ON-owned provider also facilitated by Vitroconnect.
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Premium
Elsewhere in Vodafone Africa: Safaricom expands Lipa Mdogo Mdogo
Safaricom brings China’s Transsion into device financing fold; SODAQ teams with IoT.nxt; new Vodacom buddy Dark Fibre Africa goes on cost-cutting drive.
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Premium
Openreach gets good marks for independence
Ofcom monitoring unit warns BT and Openreach to stay vigilant. Stakeholders raise concerns about PIA, defective poles, and lack of clarity on Openreach’s build plans. Equinox pricing offer deemed free from BT influence, as Ofcom defends its approval to Competition Appeal Tribunal in challenge brought by CityFibre.
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Venturing & Investments
SoftBank tie-up leads to GoStudent investment
DT and strategic partner SoftBank co-invest in ed-tech platform provider GoStudent. Investment collaboration one of promised benefits from renewed friendship last year, with GoStudent the first to profit from DT–SoftBank tie-up. Claure exit from SoftBank sees hiccup in new DT relationship, however.
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Public Affairs
Álvarez-Pallete warns of dangers of “digital slavery”
Telefónica Executive Chairman asserts that societal imbalance and data exploitation are risks that must be addressed as the world’s economies are digitised. Dire warnings of ‘slavery’ fit with Group commitments on creation of a digital rights framework that would see operators positioned as trusted partners.
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Public Affairs
Telco giants join iPhone encryption battle
Vodafone, Telefónica, and Orange add to voices calling for encryption technologies to be outlawed. EC asked to stop iPhones denying data access. Assertion comes amid wider controversy involving monitoring of illegal activity.
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Premium
VM O2 picks ITV for IPTV advertising support
VM O2 signs ITV for content aggregator play. Addressable advertising and “full” integration among the benefits. JV’s first IPTV service pushed back for a 2022 launch.
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Network & Infra
Peru’s IpT likes open RAN, but sees room for improvement
CTO of rural provider lauds lower energy consumption, shorter implementation times, compared with traditional 4G rollouts. Flags “some limitations” on capacity and scalability, however; “overall cost” of open RAN equipment still in same ballpark as kit from mainstream vendors.
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Premium
Elsewhere in UK: VM O2 augments EV fleet
VM O2 augments EV fleet; becomes founding member of National Databank to provide free data to low-income households.
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Premium
Elsewhere in BT Enterprise: BT links up with TIM & Telefónica in Turin
BT Enterprise ties with Italian telcos for connected cars and the University of Hertfordshire for smart city solutions.
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Innovation
T-Labs taps Merantix for AI voice fraud detection
Deutsche Telekom’s research arm ties with natural language processing partner Merantix Labs to co-develop deepfake detection tool. Seen as a likely necessity for future AI robustness, and builds on broader voice tech from across the Group.
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Venturing & Investments
DT backs wireless asset tracking startup MonoLets
Group continues to build out IoT ecosystem with cash injection into US connected-label startup. hubraum flags system as potentially “really useful” add to DT’s IoT armoury.
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Premium
VM O2 completes UK Gigabit rollout
Connectivity now reaches 15.5 million homes. Company to invest further £10bn in next five years.