Public Affairs
All the latest public affairs news, analysis and insight, including legal, regulatory and political issues surrounding leading telecom and infra players.
DT links to Germany’s broadband portal in bid to cut fibre red tape
Deutsche Telekom urges all municipalities to get on board the Breitband Portal and calls on other operators to make use of the digital platform.
Orange Poland could see last regulatory shackles removed, if rivals allow
Regulator UKE plans to remove Orange’s local loop unbundling and bitstream access wholesale obligations in move likely to be closely watched by European telco giants, amid calls for looser rules.
Industry maps next steps for UK’s One Touch Switch
Connected Britain 2025: TOTSCo to focus on two key areas over the next year to further improve and streamline OTS, with BT, Hyperoptic, and Grain Connect among those highlighting the system’s consequences and potential improvements…
Telco CEOs turn up heat on Europe’s regulators as Draghi report turns one
FT Connect Europe Forum: Discussions turn technical as telco CEOs call for fundamental changes to the way sector regulations are applied, including a move from ex ante to ex post.
BT’s Kirkby pulls no punches in review of UK regulatory, fiscal policy
Connected Britain: Allison Kirkby lets loose on Downing Street policy, with greater fiscal certainty needed to fund much-needed infra investment and AI adoption. Regulatory policy comes in for inevitable criticism too, as the BT boss sets the scene for the Chancellor’s upcoming Budget and Ofcom’s pending Telecoms Access Review…
Orange pushes ahead with its own agenda as regulatory change drags on
Christel Heydemann points out that Orange is not waiting for EU merger guidelines to be revisited before considering measures that would create synergies, as it did in Spain.
Telefónica’s Hispam roll-back continues
Spanish group has now firmed deals to offload more than half of its regional business in Hispanoamérica, after gaining a nod from competition regulators for exits from Ecuador and Uruguay. Four further operations remain on Telefónica’s to-sell list as it re-directs resource and attention towards Brazil and Europe.
Telefónica cleared to exit Uruguay
Uruguayan government clears path for Telefónica to close sale of local business to Millicom, furthering the Spanish group’s busy deal-making agenda.
German government looks to speed up fibre build to flats
Fibre industry organisations and players back key measures proposed by the German government to accelerate fibre rollout to multi-dwelling units, but indicate further procedural changes are needed to remove “bureaucratic hurdles”…
Orange faces union disquiet over plan to simplify French operations
The ‘Regain’ plan is now in the consultation phase, but unions are unhappy with multiple aspects of the proposals. No job cuts are planned, but the number of departments could be slashed to four, and five major centres replaced by nine smaller ones.
UK AI council looks north as energy demand set to soar — but connectivity an afterthought
Initial meetings of the government’s AI Energy Council see predictions of surging energy demand and challenges in ensuring existing infrastructure is up to the job, but connectivity requirements appear sidelined with fibre operators asbent…