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The government of Paraguay still seems determined to restore state-owned service provider Corporación Paraguaya de Comunicaciones (Copaco) to something like profitability, despite a number of failed attempts in the past.
It is not downplaying the problems Copaco faces, however. President Santiago Peña, quoted by the government’s news service, has described Copaco as “practically bankrupt”.
It probably doesn’t help that Rodrigo Benito Ferreira, who was appointed to run the company four months ago, has now been replaced. New incumbent Oscar Stark’s job won’t be easy; he says that Copaco loses 500 million guaraníes (about US$69,000) a day.
Long-standing issues relating to overstaffing appear to be ongoing, with approximately US$1.92 million allocated every month to wages for the 2,850 employees, plus another US$275,105 for the social security agency. These costs, according to Stark, are unsustainable.
And that’s not all. The BNamericas news service says that the company has accumulated debt equivalent to US$112 million, most of it involving payments to suppliers.
The new Copaco head plans to draw up measures to be taken within two weeks; these will focus on a sharp reduction in spending. Privatisation – which was attempted in 2002 but failed in the middle of a banking scandal – will not be on the drawing board, given the president’s belief that there is an important role for telecommunications in the country’s digital agenda.
He suggests in particular that Copaco, which owns a national 18,000 kilometre fibre optic network, may support the provision of fibre optics for the educational sector.
The money required is unlikely to come from service provision any time soon, however. Copaco’s fixed telephony service has only 127,000 subscribers; most of the country’s six million inhabitants uses mobile. Copaco does have a mobile unit but this is also losing money and has to compete with big names in the private sector like Tigo Paraguay (Millicom), Claro Paraguay (América Móvil) and Personal Paraguay (Telecom Argentina).
The bottom line is that plans to revive the company, which may include a cash injection, will need to make it much more competitive and efficient, which, so far, has proved difficult.
A few items of regional focus to catch up with: … [visit site to read more]
This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Lakshmiprasad A, Associate Director, Prodapt
Service providers in the Connectedness industry are challenged with increasing security threats as they handle sensitive data and provide critical services to customers. Security is the need of the hour as service providers target to balance rapid service delivery with adequate security measures, manage the security of complex infrastructure, including networks, servers, and cloud environments, and meet compliance requirements such as GDPR and HIPAA. … [visit site to read more]
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The consultation is currently being carried out by telecoms and digital infrastructure specialists such as the Wireless Broadband Alliance, London borough authorities, and other international cities that have already completed similar projects.
The report is set to publish its recommendations early this year.
The Mayor has allocated a budget of £20,000 to create a plan to improve the city’s connectivity. If the scheme is approved, it will form part of the Mayor’s “Digital Access for All” mission, which aims for every Londoner to have access to high quality connectivity, basic digital skills, and the device or support they need to be online by 2025.
“I want every Londoner and visitor to have the very best experience possible and in our connected world that means having access to fast, reliable, seamless internet access,” said Khan.
“This consultation will be the first step towards delivering better digital services for all, building a better and more prosperous city for everyone.”
Similarly, the Mayor has been bolstering London’s mobile connectivity on the city’s transport networks. Since forming a 25 year-long strategic partnership with Boldyn Networks (previously BAI Communications) in 2021, Transport for London (TFL) are deploying 4G and 5G connectivity on the London Underground. Currently, 18 out of 121 underground stations have coverage, which is set to grow steadily under the partnership.
Boldyn Networks have also partnered with the city of Sunderland to expand the city’s free public Wi-Fi infrastructure, ultimately seeking to make Wi-Fi coverage citywide –although this is on a much smaller level than London. Residents and visitors within the range of the Wi-Fi can benefit from connection speeds of up to 500Mbps.
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We started the week with the question of consolidation targets in the US, and now it’s time for the other side of the coin. What network operators are most likely to be consolidators in 2024? We’ll take it as a given that ‘infrastructure funds’ would top the more general list of likely buyers, of course, but let’s focus on the existing network operators looking to expand inorganically in the US. Last year the perennial favorite Zayo topped the list with Crown Castle and Lightpath in 2nd and third. … [visit site to read more]
The chairman of Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), Dr Sarana Boonbaichaiyapruck, has outlined a plan to create more MVNOs in the country.
The plan, which includes a scheme entitled One Region, One Mobile Virtual Network Operator, aims to create four more MVNOs by 2026, in addition to the country’s three existing mobile phone operators.
The regulator also plans to bring in free access to state digital services nationwide by 2026. This means all Thais will be able to use basic state services without internet charges on their mobile tariffs. This will be implemented in collaboration with mobile phone operators, according to the NBTC chairman.
The NBTC office will start implementing both the One Region, One MVNO scheme and free government digital services policies this year.
Will market demand sustain these new entrants against True Corporation, Advanced Info Service (AIS) and National Telecom (NT)? The Bangkok Post points out that the combined subscribers of AIS and True Corp represent more than 96% of total subscribers in the market.
It is also not clear that major operators will want to rent their network capacity to MVNOs at a low fee. However, the NBTC’s proposed regulations imply they may have little choice. That said, major mobile operators can hold a share of the regional MVNOs – but no more than 25%.
As for opportunities, MVNOs may have trouble competing with larger rivals in the mass market but there could be business opportunities in the 5G private network market.
All of this remains to be seen, however. So far The WhiteSpace, the owner of the Penguin SIM brand, is the only MVNO in Thailand. The Bangkok Post suggests its subscriber base is a little over 40,000 in a country of nearly 70 million people.
Altice Portugal, which is part of Altice Group and serves customers using the brand name Meo, is owned by French billionaire Patrick Drahi, who indicated his intention to sell the unit in summer last year.
Since then, Altice has reportedly received interest from numerous buyers, with Drahi set to narrow down the current pool of bidders into a shortlist at some point early this year.
It is widely known that Saudi Telecom Company (STC) are in the running, but some other companies involved have asked not to be identified. Portuguese business newspaper Jornal Económico has reported that Altice has received three non-binding offers, but did not disclose any further details.
Discussions on this deal are ongoing and nothing has been decided as of yet.
Meo is currently the leader in the Portuguese telecoms market, with a 48% market share of the mobile segment and a 41% share of the fixed broadband segment. While valuations for the business have not been disclosed, sources suggest that current bids range between €7 billion to €9.5 billion.
Altice Group itself is currently laden with a debt pile of around $60 billion, which Drahi is seeking to rectify with Meo’s sale and other divestments. Altice announced its intention to sell off the control of its data centre business in November, entering into an agreement with Morgan Stanley to sell a 70% share of the business for €535 million to create a new venture named UltraEdge.
Altice’s financial woes have not been helped by an ongoing scandal involving co-founder and COO Armando Pereira, who was arrested in July on suspicion of tax fraud, corruption, and money laundering.
This deal with Morgan Stanley is not yet completed, but if approved by regulators, is expected to close in the first half of next year.
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Two bits of inorganic activity, and a new subsea cable alongside some other M&A talk over in Europe: … [visit site to read more]
