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Joseph Purnell
Joseph Purnell is the BTwatch Editor and a Senior Reporter at TelcoTitans, contributing telecoms news analysis since 2019 as part of the TelcoTitans Editorial team.
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- Venturing & Investments
Infracapital: UK FibreCo fundraisers must graft to overcome global ‘bad rep’, new gov showing ‘green shoots’
INCA event provides platform for investors and altnets including Octopus and Netomnia to review early weeks of Labour government, with broad optimism on show despite still rocky funding environment. The capital exists, but what will Downing Street do to bring it to the UK? Read more…
- Financial & Performance
Openreach hits halfway mark in UK fibre mega-project
15 million premises now sit within the Openreach FTTP footprint, on track for 30 million by 2030, but a productivity boost is needed if it is to hit its 2026 interim target…
- Weekly Briefings
Vodafonewatch Weekly: dominoes fall as European restructure takes hold
Latest from Vodafone and its ecosystem, including new and expanded deals at Vodafone Business across IoT, unified comms, and more; Tomorrow Street swapping out partners in regular fashion; and ripple effect of European M&A continueing to be felt…
- Weekly Briefings
BTwatch Weekly: moving beyond the hype with 5G SA and GenAI
Latest from BT and its ecosystem, including 5G SA R&D advancements with Nokia and Qualcomm; an honest assessment of the challenges inherent with GenAI adoption at scale; and a potential asset offload in Europe…
- People
Vodafone Italy CEO jumps ship ahead of sale
Aldo Bisio, CEO of Italian business for ten years, is to leave before its sale to Swisscom completes, and take up an unspecified external opportunity.
- Operations
GenAI at BT: data hygiene critical to moving from ideas to implementation
Chief Data & AI Officer Deepika Adusumilli highlights data quality and cultural change as the two primary challenges to AI adoption at scale, with AWS’s Q and the ongoing Google Cloud migration supporting the effort.
- Products & Services
Vodafone expands RingCentral deal to ‘new regions’
South America, Middle East, Africa, and more in Vodafone Business sights under newly expanded RingCentral partnership.
- Venturing & Investments
Gov-backed UK Infrastructure Bank provides funding to another rural FibreCo
Cornish Wildanet attracts £35m investment from UKIB, days after the bank ploughed £150m into Hyperoptic.
- M&A
Vodafone Portugal attracts Saudi buyout — report
Portuguese telecoms brace for another stc advance if rumours are believed, with Vodafone transitioning from local buyer to acquisition target. Plan B to stitch up Iberian synergies with stc’s Telefónica stake in Spain?
- Weekly Briefings
Vodafonewatch Weekly: geopolitics forcing change in procurement and networks strategy
Latest from Vodafone and its ecosystem as geopolitical tensions and a shift towards a post-globalisation economy make mark on procurement and networks strategy across the Group. Also: Portuguese M&A shot down; CTO seeks commercial tension among hyperscaler partners; and technical trials with various partners show benefits for 5G rollout in Europe…
- Suppliers & SCM
Vodafone buying chief: ‘creeping protectionism’ destabilising telecom supply chain
Group Procurement Director Ninian Wilson warns that dynamic has changed in Europe, with rising US-China tensions making for difficult decisions in telco buying. Vodafone SCM strategy now prioritising resilience, despite trade-offs…
- M&A
Vodafone M&A attempt shot down in Portugal
Proposed Vodafone Portugal acquisition of market minnow Nowo ruled out by local antitrust body, but with potential lessons to take to UK merger wranglings.
- Network & Infrastructure
BT takes carrier aggregation one step further in 5G SA launch prep
Nokia and Qualcomm partnered again for latest 5CC carrier aggregation trial, laying foundations for 5G SA launch later this year.
- Weekly Briefings
Vodafonewatch Weekly: UK merger takes another twist; AI making ‘fundamental’ change
Latest from Vodafone and its ecosystem, including AI-led change affecting the entire industry; UK deal-making to appease merger detractors; spectrum wins in non-core markets; and more from satcomms, ESG startups, and South Africa’s High Court…
- Network & Infrastructure
Vodafone hands VM O2 a spectrum bonus to win merger support
Following more than a year of talks, Vodafone wins Virgin Media O2 round to its proposed Three merger with an extended network sharing agreement and approval-dependent spectrum transaction. Questions remain about MBNL future, BT response, and CMA viewpoint…
- Weekly Briefings
BTwatch Weekly: less tech, more outcomes for BT’s consumer and procurement teams
Latest from BT and its ecosystem, including calls from Consumer’s Kevin Lee to ‘forget the jargon’ and Chief Procurement Officer Cyril Pourrat on the centrality of AI to the future of buying. Infrastructure sharing in focus at Openreach; network executives exit; and Rivus folds after BT takes business elsewhere…
- Network & Infrastructure
Openreach initiates infra-sharing crackdown as altnets told to get compliant
So-called ‘whereabouts’ compliance must reach 90% for altnets to avoid potential eviction from Openreach networks, with three-month grace period before any action taken. Altnets also unhappy with current failings, and investors wary of compliance weakness. Read more…
- Suppliers & SCM
Battle of the bots: BT and Vodafone procurement chiefs forecast AI-driven buying
BT’s Cyril Pourrat and Vodafone’s Ninian Wilson discuss future of procurement, with AI at the core and negotiation bots taking on each other as tech matures. Read more…
- People
BT Peoplewatch: network architects, private cloud gurus, convergence charge
Several high-profile and strategic changes at BT Group, including a new Chief Architect; a fresh face to tackle the consumer convergence sticking point; and an executive exit in India as the Group talks up its presence in the subcontinent…
- Weekly Briefings
Vodafonewatch Weekly: transforming CTOs call for telco-vendor relationship rework
Latest from Vodafone and its network of partners and interests, including: CTO Scott Petty joins peers to call for telco-vendor relationship rethink; a TowerCo stake sell-down as Vodafone looks to cut Vi debts; and executive newcomers at Vodafone Business…