Headlines
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Financial & PerformanceBT CEO snubs fibre M&A, doubling down on Openreach organic growth — despite accelerating line losses
Q2 FY25–26: Allison Kirkby showed little enthusiasm at thought of mopping up fibre altnets as part of much-anticipated consolidation, instead insisting Openreach is best focused on its own game, and set up to beat any incursion — notwithstanding line losses accelerating alarmingly…
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Network & InfraBT taps Starlink to ‘bridge’ fibre gaps in rural reaches
UK telco becomes the latest operator to tie with Starlink to improve rural connectivity offerings for customers. “Landmark” deal follows experimentation with the technology in recent years, with rivals having unveiled their own satellite connectivity plans…
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Network & InfraDT preps 30,000-site tender for 2026, as Tier-1 open RAN builds
Fyuz: Deutsche Telekom is dramatically expanding its open RAN ambitions, including changing its operating model to handle larger-scale rollout. Another wider takeaway from Fyuz 2025 in Dublin is that open RAN is now a question of ‘when’, not ‘if’, at least for major, small cell, and neutral host deployments…
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PeopleTelefónica Peoplewatch: McKinsey exec tasked with mining Murtra’s ‘diamonds’
The latest strategic and senior changes at Telefónica, including news of a hire from consultancy McKinsey to lead a refreshed skills development push, as part of the Group’s new strategy, and changes of leadership at Telefónica Infra, the UK’s giffgaff, and in German wholesale.
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M&ABouygues prepared to play waiting game for Altice France assets
Following the rejection of French telco trio’s €17bn joint offer for SFR, Bouygues Group hopes they will be able to change parent Altice’s mind over time.
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Strategy & ChangeKPN shifts fibre build goalposts, says costly ‘landgrab’ over
In another sign of more constrained times facing Europe’s broadband infrastructure players, KPN says it is slowing and optimising its fibre rollout, to maximise efficiency and return-on-investment.
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Network & InfraDT ties with NVIDIA and SAP on €1bn AI data centre
Deutsche Telekom is transforming an existing Munich data centre through the installation of 10,000 NVIDIA GPUs.
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Partnerships & AlliancesIridium highlights ‘strategic’ value of DT space link-up
Satellite operator emphasises its role as a “stable partner” for telcos navigating alliance options in the rapidly shifting New Sat landscape, following its recent tie-up with Deutsche Telekom on next-generation hybrid connectivity through the NTN Direct platform.
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PeopleVantage Towers poaches American Tower Germany boss to fill CEO vacancy
Former American Tower and DFMG exec Martin Bouchard will take over at Vantage Towers in May, becoming the fourth CEO in three years at the towerco…
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PeopleVodafone and BT veteran joins Boldyn board
Rob Shuter, former CEO at BT Enterprise and a veteran Vodafone fixer, has been added to Boldyn’s Board of Directors, with the neutral host player seeking to tap his finance and telecoms experience in decision-making…
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M&ALiberty, Vodafone begin sale of Dutch towers
Liberty Global Q3: operator confirms sale of VodafoneZiggo’s masts is underway, with Mike Fries earlier confirming “alignment” on the issue with co-parent Vodafone Group. Divestiture one part of wider monetisation and deleveraging efforts across the Liberty portfolio…
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Partnerships & AlliancesTelefónica widens tie-up with part-owner stc into satcomms
Telecoms duo to collaborate on developing multi-orbit satellite solutions, further strengthening their existing relationship…
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Financial & PerformanceVodafoneZiggo facing ‘uncertain journey’, but turnaround path beginning to emerge
Liberty Global Q3: VodafoneZiggo boss Stephen van Rooyen expresses caveated confidence over his masterplan to put the Dutch operator on the road to a turnaround, but not everything is under his control…
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PeopleQuickline CEO departs in top-level leadership refresh
Rural-focused UK altnet appoints finance and transformation expert Mark Bowden as CEO, with Sean Royce moving to take on an advisory role. Quickline also draws from its ranks to name a new CFO…
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M&AOrange heads off Spanish IPO with co-owner buyout
French group secures a provisional, €4.25bn deal to buy out its fellow shareholders in Spain’s MásOrange, as it continues to pro-actively push for telco consolidation in European markets.
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M&AProsegur: Telefónica home security JV ‘not on table’
Operator’s partner happy to sit on fast-growing alarm joint venture, despite signals that its worth may have more than trebled since being formed six years ago. The success of rival Verisure’s recent IPO has been noted but will not prompt a similar move by Prosegur in the short term, CFO indicates.
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Venturing & InvestmentsEquinix ploughs £3.9bn into UK data centre build
International data centre operator acquires work-in-progress Hertfordshire site, with plans to develop more than 250MW of IT capacity in the future. Equinix’s move is the latest multibillion-pound investment in UK data centres, with several others seen in recent years…
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M&ANetomnia takeout rumours: first billion-dollar M&A for UK fibre?
Deep dive: Reports suggest Netomnia is in play, with cashed-up nexfibre/VM O2 and CityFibre tagged as frontrunners in the race to build a national fibre challenger to Openreach. TelcoTitans Infrawatch explores the backdrop, leading players (including Liberty Global and Telefónica), netco-servco dichotomy, and likeliest outcomes…
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M&ATelefónica makes another Hispam withdrawal: pockets $380m Ecuador deal
Spanish group secures another wadge of cash to pay down debt by completing a sale of Telefónica Ecuador to regional peer Millicom. While Telefónica cannot get out of Hispanoamérica fast enough, Millicom is bulking its regional business up and out, talking up Ecuador as a “high potential market” with “solid” macro fundamentals.
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Partnerships & AlliancesVirgin Media O2 ties with Starlink on direct-to-device services
Operator to launch its first direct-to-device satellite services in partnership with the US LEO constellation provider, deepening the pair’s existing relationship while seeking to keep pace with rivals already exploring the segment…