All articles by Joe Purnell – Page 4
-
Financial & PerformanceAs lenders wobble on UK fibre, should altnets brace for potential write-downs?
FTTH Congress CEE: ING warns that lender peers are weighing up debt write-downs as UK and European fibrecos fail to deliver on business case promises. Altnet leaders warn that investors are ‘scarred’ by past shortcomings, but can be reconvinced…
-
Suppliers & SCMEricsson secures sole RAN vendor status in clutch of Vodafone markets
Swedish vendor adds to recent UK win with Spring 6 contract covering six further markets in Europe and Africa, paving way for modernised programmable networks, including pathway to AI-RAN…
-
Financial & PerformanceBT drones investment Altitude Angel becomes latest Etc. venture to fall
Industry reacts as Altitude Angel appoints administrators, raises questions about airspace security, two years after BT’s £5m investment…
-
Analyst BriefingVodafonewatch Analyst Briefing: local innovation paves way for regional network upgrades
Latest from Vodafone as the Group shouts about various innovative network initiatives with partners Nokia, Huawei, Samsung; and others; M&A completes in Romania ahead of integration programme kick-off; Telenor tapped for procurement savings; satco investment’s share price soars; more from Europe, Africa, India, elsewhere…
-
Public AffairsIndia considers Vi reprieve to promote UK trade, foster relations — report
Vodafone-backed Indian operator Vi may benefit from UK-India trade negotiations as reports emerge that the New Delhi government may waive some debts.
-
PeoplewatchBT Peoplewatch: European rollback leads to regional leadership swaps
25+ senior and strategic changes at BT/Openreach, including senior swaps at BT Sourced; another series of brand and marketing appointments at Group-level; and new BT International regional leads following Retelit’s Italia acquisition…
-
Public Affairs‘Enormously aggressive’: nexfibre leads altnet complaints against Openreach copper-to-fibre discounting
Connected Britain 2025: As Openreach pulls levers to combat massive broadband losses, and drive fibre adoption alongside, altnet leaders have called out the discount pricing strategy as unsustainable. nexfibre execs have called it an exploitation of the incumbent’s significant market powers, CityFibre warns of structure advantage, plus views from other altnets, rivals…
-
Analyst BriefingBTwatch Analyst Briefing: CEO issues warning ahead of Budget, regulatory review
Latest from BT as CEO Allison Kirkby raises concern at the tax burden and regulatory red-tape faced by UK infra owners; Openreach crosses 20 million prems milestone; Netomnia boss eyes scaled BT challenge; more from around the Group…
-
Suppliers & SCMSamsung secures berth in Vodafone’s open RAN squad
Questions remain about the scope, scale, and suppliers of Vodafone’s open RAN future, but Samsung is the first to publicly declare its success in the procurement process.
-
PeoplewatchKatherine Ainley exits Ericsson after five years as UK&I CEO
Ex-BT exec departs the vendor with claims of a job well done: UK business grows, major 5G deals signed.
-
Suppliers & SCMVodafone’s procurement arm seeks grander scale with Telenor tie-up
Vague but apparently expansive, telco duo signs up to ‘leverage complementary footprint’ to avoid duplication and draw down unspecified ‘synergies’.
-
Analyst BriefingVodafonewatch Analyst Briefing: Group pitches role in driving European investment
Latest from Vodafone as execs add their voices to calls for pro-investment, pro-competition regulation in Europe; VodafoneThree names key vendors for UK network upgrade; 2G on the way out; Safaricom investment faces funding crunch…
-
Financial & PerformanceSafaricom scaleup Circle Gas faces ‘severe but plausible’ funding crunch
Kenyan cooking gas investment continues to post substantial losses despite showing some fruit from a major restructure, with new funding required to ensure expansion plans can go ahead…
-
InnovationOpenreach taps VR startup for 3D fibre planning
Openreach adds another weapon to its fibre building arsenal through Glasgow startup, using VR mapping to accelerate the cable routing process.
-
Strategy & ChangeFrom upstart to fibre-mobile powerhouse: Netomnia CEO plots BT take-down
Connected Britain: Jeremy Chelot refreshes provocative vision for fibreco segment, with fixed-mobile convergence latest outcome of choice. The ultimate prize could be a scaled altnet merging with VodafoneThree, or a new MNO — creating a new heavyweight contender to BT/Openreach…
-
Public AffairsBT’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…
-
Analyst BriefingBTwatch Briefing: reputational change expert joins BT top-brass
Latest from in and around BT, including the latest Executive Committee change as Allison Kirkby looks to shore up cultural and reputational change efforts; BT co-develops anti-fraud APIs; BT Ireland fibre assets formally sold off; more from Openreach, BT Business, elsewhere…
-
Products & ServicesUK MNOs collab to take fraudsters to task with new APIs
BT, Three, Virgin Media O2, and Vodafone jointly launch tech to enable age verification and fraud protection, leveraging MNO data.
-
Analyst BriefingVodafonewatch Analyst Briefing: Group spends billions on UK network upgrade; millions on Romanian bulk-up
Latest from in and around Vodafone, including the first £2bn investment of VodafoneThree’s network infra upgrade programme; Della Valle’s latest ‘right-sizing’ initiative in Romania; and significant ExCo changes at Group and OpCo level in Europe and Africa…
-
Suppliers & SCMEricsson, Nokia win big as VodafoneThree opens wallet for £11bn network investment
UK MNO names core network vendors to underpin its MOCN upgrade and rollout project. Ericsson secures role as merged operator’s senior core network vendor, while Nokia steps up for RAN delivery, and the pair set to cover the “majority, but not the entirety” of VodafoneThree’s eight-year network build…