All articles by Richard Agnew – Page 4
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Network & Infrastructure
Belgian fibre: Orange and Proximus confirm tie-up talks
Telco pair acknowledge ongoing discussions over a mutual fibre buildout arrangement covering less urban areas of Belgium’s Walloon Region.
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M&A
Millicom ‘nearing’ firm deal with Telefónica on Colombian buyout
Telefónica and Millicom said to be within weeks of firming up a formal agreement on consolidation of their Colombian businesses, preparing the way for Telefónica to exit the market. Movement also being seen on parallel effort to secure antitrust approval for transaction, and proposed buyout of government minority holding in Telefónica Colombia.
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Suppliers & SCM
T-Mobile seeks better ops visibility with shift to new ERP
US operator is making preparations for migration to a new ERP solution, designed to improve and speed up internal reporting.
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Network & Infrastructure
Vivo eyes windfall by ditching copper assets
Brazilian telco seeks a commercial, operational, and financial win by extracting and selling its legacy copper network.
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Network & Infrastructure
DT’s wireless infra masterplan progresses in Greece
Greek incumbent OTE flags board approval for creation of new TowerCo, following review.
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People
stc’s CEO joins Telefónica board as new shareholders reset pecking order
Long-anticipated boardroom rejig sees stc boss Olayan Alwetaid confirmed as telco’s representative in Spain, following recent stake increase — but Spanish government expand its influence over decision-making in parallel.
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Network & Infrastructure
Greece’s OTE deploys fixed wireless to stem rural churn to Starlink et al
Incumbent positions recently launched FWA service as a handy retention and acquisition tool to patch up its presence in areas not yet in reach of its fibre infra.
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M&A
Telecom deal gives Telefónica an Argentinean escape hatch
Telefónica announces a swift, abrupt — and seemingly final — exit from Argentina, progressing bid to scale back its regional footprint in Hispam, and reduce risk. While Telefónica Argentina sale attracts criticism from President Javier Milei, Telefónica indicates it is protected from any fallout.
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People
Telefónica wants Haas to guide German business through to 2028
Fresh, three-year contract handed to Telefónica Deutschland CEO, positioning him to deliver the German OB’s current three-year strategic programme and push further development.
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M&A
Liberty seeks strategic partner to fuel B2B services expansion plan
Execs lay out strategy to build out, and eventually monetise, outsourced services businesses Liberty Blume and Liberty Tech.
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Financial & Performance
Fixed-up VM O2 looks to bounce back in 2025
UK operator forecasts a return to growth in the current year after spending much of 2024 strengthening its foundations.
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Suppliers & SCM
Final hearing on DT’s €80m outsourcing dispute tabled for July
ISS, DT’s facilities management supplier in Germany, updates on long-running disagreement centring on major, long-term deal gained with operator in late-2010s. Danish outsourcer caveats cash flow forecast for FY25 amid uncertainty over proceedings’ outcome. Final arbitration hearing now tabled for July.
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Network & Infrastructure
Telefónica eases load with Helium’s OpenWiFi hotspots
In-depth: Investment’s “open-source” network of decentralised hotspots leveraged for mobile data offload through homegrown management platform. Tie-up initially focused on Mexico, to expand across LatAm markets, extend to other virtual operators, hopes to cut infra costs further…
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Strategy & Change
Euro data centres: infra crunch driving investors to new tier of hub cities — report
Consultancy Eight Advisory highlights rise of emerging challengers to Europe’s dominant ‘FLAP-D’ metros, aided by greater availability of power, land, and labour resource elsewhere. Learn more…
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Suppliers & SCM
T-Mobile US grabs Red Hat for telco cloud journey
Operator adopts vendor’s OpenShift Platform Plus solution as foundation for core and edge infrastructure revamp.
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Network & Infrastructure
DT’s fibre build pace picks up after 2024 crash
Operator reports “strong” rollout result in January, comfortably beating homes passed numbers from previous years, but FTTH build still hampered by planning hurdles, inflation, and focus shift…
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Weekly Briefings
Deutsche Telekomwatch Briefing: political tremors and quake alerts
As one part of DT flags experiments with fibre-based earthquake monitoring, ructions of a different kind will be on the minds of Group leadership as elections loom and geopolitical heat rises. Read more…
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M&A
New Telefónica leadership wields hatchet on Hispam
Under new CEO, Group is on accelerating regional retreat, with at least four of Hispam division’s nine markets now in M&A spotlight. Exits being explored in Colombia, Mexico, and Argentina — representing well over half of Hispam revenue base. Peruvian business is placed in insolvency, meanwhile, after sale and infra separation plans stall.
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People
DT switches telco API leadership as Aduna advances
Deutsche Telekom appoints Dr. Chathurangi Wickramasinghe as new API supremo, replacing Peter Arbitter, who has transferred to Aduna, the telco API joint venture he has helped set up. Arbitter takes on responsibility for getting Aduna’s commercial plans up and running amid level of scepticism over the initiative’s likely market impact.
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Strategy & Change
Orange Belgium has done its prep for Digi exam, assure execs
Newly-bulked-up Belgian operator points to FY24 numbers, FY25 growth forecast, and remaining pool of VOO merger synergies as reasons for optimism in face of challenge from expansive European disruptor Digi.