Public Affairs
All the latest public affairs news, analysis and insight, including legal, regulatory and political issues surrounding leading telecom and infra players.
Orange backs startup Biolevate in pharma AI push
Orange Ventures co‑led a Series A funding round for the health‑tech specialist.
Kenyan High Court rules to unwind Vodacom’s Safaricom takeover
Just months after celebrating taking control of Safaricom as a ‘defining moment’, Vodafone’s African arm now faces prospect of enforced €1.4bn deal unwind. From Midrand to London, execs must now confront complex balance-sheet unravelling and regulatory exposure.
SFR takeover: unions call for strike action over workforce concerns
Union opposition to the proposed break-up of SFR intensifies, with employee representatives launching legal action and planning strike activity as they seek stronger protections and greater clarity.
UK fibrecos gasping for air as Openreach discounts ‘take oxygen out of the system’
In-depth: Openreach’s wholesale discounting strategy has become the latest battleground in the UK fibre wars, with altnet leaders urging Ofcom to intervene more aggressively while the incumbent insists it is simply competing on price.
ITS promotes collaboration before ‘toolkit’ consolidation in “tough market”
Daren Baythorpe, CEO at UK B2B fibre wholesaler ITS Technology, believes the next phase of telecoms consolidation could look very different from the last. The B2B wholesaler boss argues that investors may increasingly combine complementary infrastructure assets rather than pursue straightforward fibre-network mergers.
SES and Elveo Mobile extend tie-up into satellite manufacturing
Pair of satcos build on infra-sharing relationship with new agreement to expand manufacturing capabilities in Europe. Deal to support SES with executing its multi-orbit strategy, and follows recent completion of MEO constellation…
UK: industry braced as nexfibre–Netomnia deal becomes referendum for fibre’s future
In-depth: £2bn deal dominated the keynote stage at Connected Britain, with rival executives abandoning diplomatic language and openly clashing ahead of a competition ruling that could determine shape of UK fibre’s next phase.
Why satcos and MNOs must collaborate to scale and monetise hybrid networks
In a new age of orbital disruption, a telco-satellite summit hosted by Celfocus explored how MNOs and non-terrestrial operators must embrace proactive collaboration and open standards to eliminate friction, putting seamless customer experience at the heart of space-age connectivity.
Ofcom prepares ground for Openreach leap away from copper in 2029
Ofcom’s latest copper deregulation framework gives Openreach a clearer path towards retiring its legacy network, with up to half eligible within three years, but difficult questions remain over the final 10% of premises.
EC earmarks Greenland as AI infra base
Greenland mulls data centre construction — alongside enhanced satellite connectivity and other digital infra projects — as investment target using fresh European financing, as businesses keep watch on the territory as a geographically advantageous region for new digital infra…
Trusted agentic AI: DT and Vodafone automate identity management for sovereign-ready network compliance
Translating dense legal jargon into network access rules with telco-grade IAM (identity and access management) traditionally takes weeks of manual engineering with error risk. Explore how Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone are applying ‘governed intelligence’ and a “Legal LLM” to shrink this critical infrastructure compliance latency to hours, with zero trust and human-in-the-loop, unlocking efficiencies and new high-value sovereign revenue streams.