All Greg Mesch articles
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Financial & Performance
CityFibre on the hunt for more cash to fund capital-intensive fibre rollout
UK altnet’s debt and equity funding due to dry up next year, but talks ongoing with prospective investors for new cash.
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Weekly Briefings
Vodafonewatch Weekly: UK merger turns a corner, Italian sale hit with fresh challenge
Latest from Vodafone and its ecosystem, including: closer scrutiny for Vodafone Italy sale to Swisscom; TPG cuts down, adds roaming partner; satellites in focus in African markets, just as SpaceMobile takes flight in US; more from Africa, Europe, and beyond…
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Eventwatch
Virgin Media O2 and CityFibre question each other’s fibre maths
Connected Britain: VM O2 CEO Lutz Schüler argues operator is taking “challenger” approach in UK’s fibre market, with nexfibre spin-off and upcoming NetCo positioning operator to be a “long-term sustainable partner” to altnets.
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M&A
Virgin Media O2 gears up for £1bn NetCo stake sale — report
Operator reportedly aiming to offload at least 20% stake in fledgling NetCo, with several infrastructure, private equity, and pension funds taking interest.
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Network & Infrastructure
CityFibre adds ‘kingmaker’ Sky in fibre wholesale offensive
UK’s largest altnet signs wholesale deal with Sky, making a dent in Openreach dominance and pushing further the claim of genuine competition to the incumbent. Sky commits to rental economics, while CityFibre leverages Project Gigabit fame to help ISPs to new full-fibre markets…
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M&A
Liberty mulls M&A opportunities for Virgin Media O2’s NetCo
Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries still “looking actively” at possible altnet acquisitions, noting potential for VM O2’s planned FibreCo spin-off to serve as a vehicle for consolidation in the UK’s fibre market.
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Weekly Briefings
Infrawatch Weekly: direct-to-device investments; InfraCo independence; new network metrics
Latest from the digital infra scene in the UK and beyond, including: investment in alternative connectivity technologies; infra spin-offs and data centre sales; coverage data fails; people moves; and plenty more…
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M&A
CityFibre ignites M&A plan with Lit Fibre buy
Altnet lights M&A touchpaper with Lit Fibre deal, expands FTTP footprint and brings in Newlight Partners as minority investor. More to come from CityFibre soon…
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Weekly Briefings
Infrawatch Weekly: end of the road for Digital 9, OneWeb’s space odyssey troubles continue
Digital 9 decides to wind down; OneWeb misses ‘global’ coverage targets; CityFibre aiming to get more active on M&A; more…
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Weekly Briefings
BTwatch Weekly: strategic swaps in the boardroom, rigorous defence in the courtroom
Latest around BT and its ecosystem as the Group goes to court to defend against overcharging class action; Deutsche Telekom goes strategic with latest BT board rep; and BT lays out a spectrum policy wish list; and more…
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Financial & Performance
Is CityFibre now #1 UK fibre altnet by revenue, take-up?
With take-up doubling, revenue exploding, build on target and positive EBITDA imminent, NetCo boasts 50+ ISP retail partners are selling two- or even three-times’ as many CityFibre connections than sourced from Openreach. Appears Community Fibre and Hyperoptic overtaken, M&A next up…
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Interview
CEO Interview: CityFibre on M&A watch, competition bottlenecks, BT economic rationale questioned
‘BT’ called out for obstinate, irrational, anti-competitive behaviour that penalises own shareholders — needs to prioritise copper shutdown to deliver fibre payback, and start serving consumers outside Openreach footprint. Also CityFibre’s M&A tracking/ranking and NetCo purism, big-3 ISP lockout, regulator told to keep sharp, and more…
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Strategy & Change
BT quashes talk of Openreach split
Connected Britain 2023: Howard Watson and Clive Selley say structural separation is not on the agenda; BT focused squarely on driving full-fibre deployment.
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Premium
CityFibre: Openreach strategy puts UK foreign investment at risk
CityFibre execs in Manchester and Madrid warn Ofcom that Openreach’s Equinox 2 pricing model jeopardises success story of foreign direct investment in UK infra.
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Premium
UK M&A on cards as Telefónica steps up fibre challenge
nexfibre rumoured to be on the M&A path in bid to challenge incumbency, secure UK fibre market share.
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M&A
Liberty CEO ‘in M&A talks with CityFibre’
Not a done deal. Discussions are preliminary and large-scale consolidation in UK altnet market likely to attract sharp scrutiny from regulators.
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Premium
nexfibre is Openreach’s “real” competitor, says co-owner InfraVia
JV’s co-owner InfraVia sees resource platform, Virgin Media O2 ties, and unmet demand as giving new entrant opportunity to build major challenge in UK’s fibre space.
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Premium
UK altnet Trooli hires restructuring guru as sale talk resurfaces
Kent-based fibre challenger adds former EY Restructuring Partner David Duggins to Board as talk of an equity sale resurfaces.
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Premium
Vodafone faces up to Openreach wholesale pricing
Openreach submits new Equinox 2 pricing model for regulatory review ahead of April launch.
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Premium
VM O2 criticises new Openreach wholesale pricing
Virgin Media O2 CEO Lutz Schüler among those to call out new Equinox 2 proposition.