Public affairs – Page 56
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Network & Infrastructure
O2 gives 4G a pre-tie-up top-up
UK operating business seeks to bolster “national champion” pitch ahead of Virgin Media merger. Focus is on eliminating 4G ‘not-spots’ and boosting 4G and 5G coverage at tourist attractions.
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Telefónica sets eyes on COVID restart; announcements across all markets: Telefónicawatch roundup June-July 2020
Telefónica joined Restarting Together COVID-19 recovery programme, absent from ETSI’s E4P scheme, and one of 53 large companies to take a Bank of England emergency loan. TIWS test LEO satellite; ElevenPaths gets AWS security certification. Announcements across Telefónica’s core markets include ongoing 5G/China drama in the UK; Brazilian network-sharing ...
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Strategy & Change
O2 seeks to benefit from post-COVID-19 era
O2 UK turns sell-to relationships on store technology into commercial partnerships. Operator creates new suite of digital solutions to resolve social distancing challenges, using technology from two startups originally incubated by Wayra UK.
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Partnerships & Alliances
Vodafone Idea to trial drone-based food delivery
VfI joins ClearSky consortium to test BVLOS drone operations with Airmap, Curl Analytics, TechEagle, and Zomato. Indian regulator targets commercialisation of drone flights with 13 POCs from cross-industry consortia.
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Network & Infrastructure
Scottish rural 4G scheme on pause
Government says limited work will resume, post shutdown, “in the coming weeks”.
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Public Affairs
Vodacom: 2019 arrests in Tanzania were “troubling”
Shockwaves have evidently not yet subsided from strikingly severe treatment of executives in April 2019 incident.
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Vodafonewatch roundup — June 2020
Deals and updates from across the Vodafone Group include the latest CNTT release, Vodafone Business partnership with Energy Web, and a coordinated Track and Trace effort from European telcos. Vodafone Idea flagged collaborations with Nokia, Red Hat, and Mavenir. Vodafone Greece launched ToBi; Ireland expanded its relationship with Exclusive ...
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M&A
Fries on VM-O2 merger: don’t mention the tax breaks
Liberty Global anticipates substantial opportunities for savings by injecting Virgin Media tax losses into O2, but Fries wary that such behaviour may not chime with goal of creating new UK “national champion”.
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Strategy & Change
O2’s Haas lukewarm over Germany’s rural wirelessco
Operator predictably wary over the potential of planned mobile infrastructure company to disrupt MNOs, despite rural-focused mandate.
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Enterprise (B2B)
BT defends role in poor-value NI land registry project
Audit Office critical of Department for Finance in failing to deliver taxpayer value from Land Registry contract, and for not securing sufficient transparency on BT’s slice of the income.
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EE could face longer wait for spectrum
Now-traditional inter-operator squabbling threatening to create months of delays to availability of new low- and mid-band spectrum for service delivery and development.
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BT executives: teamwork key for new normal
Closer partnerships with customers and more collaboration with key suppliers viewed as especially key in post-COVID-19 era. Hyperscalers looming large as a challenging market presence but also as potentially valuable partners. Response to current disruption is providing BT with food for thought on how it can move fast and ...
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BT FY19–20: SME coronavirus pain hits BT early
BT did not overly dwell on the impact of the Coronavirus crisis, highlighting areas where it has assisted, as well as where it has benefited and sees potential opportunities.
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Public Affairs
DT tracing COVID app finally set for take off
German authorities muse a ten-day earlier hand-off to DT and SAP could have seen Germany’s tracing programme accelerated by up to three weeks. T-Systems’ staff beta testing app, while DT contact centres will manage manual test result communications.
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Strategy & Change
Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone clap €130bn German stimulus
Massive €50bn pot set aside for ‘future’ technologies, including 6G, open RAN, AI, and quantum computing. New, €5bn mobile infrastructure company appears to take heat off mobile operators. Thinly veiled threat issued to network suppliers over ‘openness’ and interoperability.
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Deutsche Telekomwatch roundup — June 2020
Deutsche Telekomwatch roundup — June 2020 Source: Deutsche Telekomwatch #94 Group Partnerships MobiledgeX, Deutsche Telekom’s edge computing platform spin-out, unveiled what it called a “demand-side” initiative, branded Seamster. The aim, said MobiledgeX, was to capture and model enterprise use-cases surrounding 5G and edge computing, and accelerate ...
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Suppliers & SCM
BT remedies Prompt Payment Code failings
BT earns Prompt Payment Code signatory status after submitting substantial changes to supplier payment procedures, upping prompt payments to 95%.
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People
Vodafone names new Brussels chief
FTTH Council Europe DG enlisted to help Group push for better capital returns in its challenged Europe Region.
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M&A
EU court ruling could revive network consolidation
Commission found to have been wrong to block O2–Three merger, based on commitment to upholding four-player mobile markets in larger countries. While not yet final, the court’s decision may fire the starting pistol for a renewed wave of consolidation among telcos struggling to manage competition. Commissioner Vestager side-steps comment ...
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Vodafone could face long wait for spectrum
Rival O2 remains vexed by how Ofcom has structured mid-band licence sell-off.