Europe – Page 126
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Strategy & ChangeElsewhere in Telekom Deutschland: “long-term” Sky partnership
Management refresh at congstar; Sky and TDE build up partnership; operator shops at Aldi for home tie-up.
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PremiumVodafone Group’s Dutch and British tower partners look to cash in
Liberty CFO says group “not in love with” tower ownership and keen to unlock value in Belgium, Netherlands, and UK. Telefónica hands Goldman Sachs reins to examine prospective Cornerstone share sale.
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OperationsVodafone Spain staff set for more redundancies
Challenged Spanish OpCo initiates plan to remove another 500-plus people from its headcount. Another large-scale downsizing move made under cover of Digital Telco transformation, and as fodder for Group’s centralisation-led efficiency plans.
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Innovation (R&D)BT ties with Sweden’s Skydome on emergency response
VR leveraged by embryonic Skydome for incident monitoring purposes. Startup’s R&D partners include Intel. Potential for deployment at BT’s network of smart ports.
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Venturing & InvestmentsWayra UK sets up fundraising support initiative
UK incubator leans on expertise of outside consultancy to launch Wayraise scheme. Mountside helping ensure Wayra businesses are “investor-ready” and works to facilitate greater flow of VC into startup ecosystem.
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Network & InfrastructureVodafone CEO disses DSS
Nick Read flags “performance degradation” when using DSS in blended environment of 4G and 5G. Not clear if all vendors equally guilty in Read’s eyes. Ericsson’s proprietary Ericsson Spectrum Sharing solution used in key Vodafone markets, including Germany and UK. Vendor emphatically denies there is any meaningful performance dip ...
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PeopleBT Sourced adds transformation lead
Former Allianz buying head appointed Director, Procurement Transformation.
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M&ATelefónica joins Liberty in move towards UK tower sale
Goldman Sachs reportedly handed reins to examine prospective Cornerstone share sale.
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PremiumDT people moves: CEOs and CTIOs named in central and eastern Europe
A host of changes at DT’s European NatCos include two new CEOs and two new CTIOs, and a reworked Commercial division. Finance lead swaps at T-Systems Alpine. Group venturing unit DTCP targets portfolio partnerships growth.
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Innovation (R&D)BT quantum-secures hollow core fibre in trial
QKD hook-up with Lumenisity HCF pitched as world first. Lord says trial “accelerates the UK’s lead in quantum technologies”. Widespread HCF deployment still some way off, however.
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Partnerships & AlliancesDeutsche Telekom IT Solutions ties with AWS for DevOps focus
New taskforce to adopt agile working methods with AWS engineering support. First project will focus on AI-based customer assistance solution from November.
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M&AOTE takes full ownership of Romanian mobile business
OTE’s near-100% absorption of mobile business a regulatory prerequisite for sale of its fixed sibling to Orange. Telekom Romania’s 30% holding given €59m price tag. Previously the subject of sale speculation, TRMC now fully focused on organic growth, with new Bucharest headquarters portrayed as “fresh start”.
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Innovation (R&D)DT: Open RAN not there yet, but developing fast
Deutsche Telekom’s view on open RAN state of play. Mixed bag: encouraging pace of development, but complexity reigns. Programmability capability is two to three years away. “Must have” automation needed to tackle integration challenge.
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PremiumVodafone Q1 FY21–22: ‘Phase two’ relaunched with M&A sweetener
Some hints of compromise with City overseers as Vodafone re-seeds post-pandemic, digital-led growth plan. New Chairman van Boxmeer appears to be lighting a fire under Group mindset and strategy. M&A talked up as a lever to help Vodafone in the push to revive growth. Another chunk of Vantage could ...
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Strategy & ChangeElsewhere in Deutsche Telekom Group: DT terminates De-Mail involvement
Last post for De-Mail; Group sees shareholder dissent over exec pay; mVAS project ticked off Pan-Net to-do list.
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PremiumVodafone Q1 FY21-22 Headlines: pandemic snags unwind, gradually
Group bounces out of pandemic slump, helped by lapping and increased business confidence. Cautious CEO warns of further “bumps in the road”. In Spain, another large-scale downsizing move made under cover of Digital Telco transformation, and as fodder for Group’s centralisation-led efficiency plans.
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PremiumVodafone Q1 FY21-22 Guidance: all quiet on capex front
Group unsurprisingly “firmly on track” to meet heavily caveated free cash flow target. Plan for spend “step-up”, highlighted in May 2021, appears yet to be firmed up after causing City consternation.
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Strategy & ChangeElsewhere in Telefónica Core Markets: O2 Business launches Managed Microsoft 365
Regulatory battles continue in Spain with mixed results; Movistar scores Italian football rights renewal.
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M&AT-Systems offloads South African remnant
Deutsche Telekom’s enterprise unit wraps up SA exit after selling training and development provider. Continuation of T-Systems slimming drive
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PeopleNew MD appointed at Deutsche Telekom Pan-Net
Jana Kvoriakova named Managing Director at Deutsche Telekom’s cloud infrastructure unit. She replaces Stefan Schnitter, who moves to T-Systems consultancy Detecon.