The final regulatory hurdle to Cellnex acquiring more than 24,600 CK Hutchison’s sites in six European countries has been given approval. The series of agreements first announced in November 2020 covered Austria…

The final regulatory hurdle to Cellnex acquiring more than 24,600 CK Hutchison’s sites in six European countries has been given approval.

The series of agreements first announced in November 2020 covered Austria, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Italy and the United Kingdom and had originally been obstructed by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) who said that the original UK deal would lead to a “substantial lessening of competition in the supply of access to developed macro sites and ancillary services to wireless communication providers in the UK.”

The CMA has now approved the Cellnex acquisition of CK Hutchison’s 6,000 passive telecom infrastructure sites in the UK, subject to the divestment of around 1,000 of existing UK sites which overlap geographically with the CK Hutchison sites to be acquired.

Now that the deal can progress, it equates to an investment of around €10 billion and will incorporate addition of 600 new sites in the UK as part of up to 5,250 new sites being added across the six countries over the next eight years.

Cellnex CEO Tobias Martinez commented: “The combined agreements with CK Hutchison not only strengthen our position as a key pan-European operator, but also reinforce our partnerships with our customers and open up new opportunities and approaches for collaboration. Fundamentally, this rationalisation of infrastructure will create the required incentives to unlock, improve and extend mobile coverage, including 5G, across these key markets.”

You can meet Cellnex at Connected Britain on the 20-21 September 2022. Find out more HERE

David McCourt, Chairman of National Broadband Ireland gave a stark warning to the U.S., « If the U.S. doesn’t provide universal access, it will ensure that the Americans who are already struggling to compete in the global economy will fall further behind& »…

David McCourt, Chairman of National Broadband Ireland gave a stark warning to the U.S., « If the U.S. doesn’t provide universal access, it will ensure that the Americans who are already struggling to compete in the global economy will fall further behind ».

McCourt who is also the inaugural Economist in Residence at USC’s Annenberg school, was writing on the Nasdaq, Inc. website and said that it is now time for the U.S. to follow Ireland’s lead by embracing a comprehensive, inclusive, and technologically-forward broadband plan to ensure every American – rich or poor – has access to the internet.

Today, about 25% of Americans don’t have access to broadband at home, but studies, such as that completed by Deloitte into the US Digital Divide, have shown that a 10% increase in broadband access could result in 875,000 new jobs and $186 billion in economic output.

McCourt further went on to argue for an independent provider to build a broadband infrastructure for all Americans in an equitable manner, suggesting that the likes of like Verizon and AT&T have failed the American public as they have sought to pursue their own business interests.

Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act has seen $65 billion allocated to broadband expansion. It has never been a more interesting time to explore the development of a #ConnectedAmerica. Sign up to the dedicated Total Telecom America newsletter HERE

Twelve months ago Canada’s Rogers Communications agreed to buy Shaw Communications in a transaction valued at CAD 26 billion, proclaiming the combination of the two networks would create the possibility of “unprecedented wireline and wireless broadband and network investments…

Twelve months ago Canada’s Rogers Communications agreed to buy Shaw Communications in a transaction valued at CAD 26 billion, proclaiming the combination of the two networks would create the possibility of “unprecedented wireline and wireless broadband and network investments, innovation and growth in new telecommunications services, and greater choice for Canadian consumers and businesses.”

It seems not everyone agreed, and now Canadian Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry François-Philippe Champagne has stated that the the wholesale transfer of Shaw’s wireless licences to Rogers is fundamentally incompatible with the government’s policies for spectrum and mobile service competition – he is quoted as saying “I will simply not permit it,”

Three separate regulators are currently reviewing the deal and Champagne is not the only one who will be pleased if the deal does not go ahead. Smaller rival Quebecor, who announced their plans to launch a national cellphone network last November, said « The pending Competition Bureau of Canada decision on the Rogers-Shaw transaction could also be an opportunity to create the dynamics for real, sustainable competition, for the benefit of Canadians,”

Quebecor further pointed out that Bell, Rogers and Telus already control 90 percent of Canada’s mobile market and so believe the regulars should move for more competition in the market.

Rogers and Shaw on the other hand argue the deal is in the interests of Canadian’s with ongoing affordable wireless plans, initiatives to reach every Canadian where the combined company offers internet services, and plans create up to 3,000 net new jobs.

Canada’s Competition Bureau launched an investigation into the deal last September, whilst Rogers and Shaw have again stated that they believe the deal will close in the first half of 2022. If Rogers aren’t allowed to buy all of Shaw’s wireless business, it does not mean the deal cannot go ahead – but concessions will certainly have to be made.

The founders of London-based investment group LetterOne have resigning from the board following EU imposed sanctions on the Russian billionaires this week…

The founders of London-based investment group LetterOne have resigning from the board following EU imposed sanctions on the Russian billionaires this week. Founded in 2013 by Mikhail Fridman, LetterOne has investments in telecom CSP’s including Turkcell, Veon, and Upp as well as cloud-based provider of BSS software, Qvantel.

Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven who have both stepped down, together own slightly less than 50 per cent of the group and whilst the businesses they invest in are not directly affected by sanctions, the move has meant to remove the risk of reputational damage. Former UK Labour government minister Lord Mervyn Davies will take control of the group.

LetterOne hit the UK headlines last year as a major investor in Upp who plan to invest £1billion to deploy a full fibre network to one million premises by 2025 in Eastern England. Upp is currently live in Stamford in Lincolnshire and Diss in Norfolk.

MTN have reiterated their commitment to supporting innovation by becoming the the first African company to enter the metaverse. Today they have announced the purchase of 144 plots of digital land in the Africarare metaverse Ubuntuland…

MTN have reiterated their commitment to supporting innovation by becoming the the first African company to enter the metaverse. Today they have announced the purchase of 144 plots of digital land in the Africarare metaverse Ubuntuland, which will showcase some of the best of African art, fashion, entertainment, sport, tech and creativity.

Ubuntuland is being developed by Africarare and Mann Made Media. Mic Mann, co-founder of Africarare was quoted as saying “We’ve seen an immense amount of growth in the NFT space marketplace and Metaverses across the US, Europe, Asia, there hasn’t been much coming out of Africa. We feel there’s a great opportunity for Africa to take part in this new world.”

MTN‘s move is part of it’s wider policy of positioning itself as a technology company, rather than a telecommunications company and is aligned with the companies Ambition 2025 strategy. Bernice Samuels, MTN’s Group Executive for Marketing said « We have always been at the forefront of technological and digital changes and we remain alive to the exciting opportunities the metaverse presents for us and our customers’’.

Tell us about your start up Our vision is to develop innovative IT solutions in a socially responsible way that benefit society in terms of improved effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability. Our activities include product and service development, 3D remote services and blockchain-based operational processes. We are currently working intensively in the industry 4.0 ecosystem on innovative solutions for the use of technologies such as WebRTC…

Tell us about your start up
Our vision is to develop innovative IT solutions in a socially responsible way that benefit society in terms of improved effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability. Our activities include product and service development, 3D remote services and blockchain-based operational processes.

We are currently working intensively in the industry 4.0 ecosystem on innovative solutions for the use of technologies such as WebRTC, Blockchain, Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) in use cases specifically designed for data centres, telecommunication companies as well as automotive, utilities and services.

We are partners with large corporations such as Equinix, SAP and Volkswagen and have a global reach with 3PP located in Asia and Americas.

What is your USP, how do you stand out from your competition?
We create solutions for digitalization and preparation for the requirements of the industry 4.0 by offering:
• Higher operational efficiency
• Lower operational costs
• Enhanced productivity
• Improved health and safety
• Reduction of routine tasks or of tasks with no added value
• Remote in-service audits and inspections
• UX/CX for on-the-job learning
• Lower carbon footprint by reduced commute and travel time.

What is your relationship with the telecom sector?
Our aim is to create a profound impact on the productivity of operations and maintenance by offering Extended Reality and WebRTC-based applications for equipment installation and maintenance for the Telco sector (Network Equipment Providers, Operators, Tower companies). Telecommunication carriers remain our core customer profile.

How have you got to your current stage of development?
We are not part of incubators or accelerators as of now. FroXx is both privately and publicly funded.

Why did you establish the business?
The business was established to address a clear need of operational reliability with remote assistance in Telco operations. We are using accessible technology to improve general efficiency and sustainability. The Leadership Team of FroXx combines 150+ years of ICT experience having served major companies such as Ericsson on key strategic positions.

What is your motivation?
Our CEO’s extensive experience in the Telco industry has clearly demonstrated to us how the sector is on the verge of a major acceleration of the innovation cycle. The increasing adoption of IoT devices, growing investments in smart city projects and 5G infrastructures, and the need for high-speed internet connectivity around the world remain our main motivation to meet these industry’s leaders’ objectives.

What does the future hold for your business?
We target a niche market and plan a strategic move this year to offer and implement our solutions in other industries aiming at accessing Industry 4.0, notably with automated processes for enhanced productivity.

HEADQUARTERS: Potsdam, Germany
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 10
LAST FUNDING TYPE: Institutional funds (ILB Germany Investment Bank) – Federal and European institutions for the development of ICT industries and initiatives in Germany
WEBSITE URL: froxx-industries.com
FOUNDER: Rodrigo Beyer Fernandez, CEO and Founder

Meet FroXx at CONNECTED GERMANY which takes place in Mainz, Germany on the 5-6 April 2022. Free tickets are available for consumer-facing Germany-based operators, stadtwerke and German-based members of the public sector. Find out more here.

In a bid to prove the commercial value of investment in subsea infrastructure, Meta has commissioned two studies by Analysys Mason and RTI International to explore the economic impact of their investments in APAC and Europe…

In a bid to prove the commercial value of investment in subsea infrastructure, Meta has commissioned two studies by Analysys Mason and RTI International to explore the economic impact of their investments in APAC and Europe. It is hoped that these findings will demonstrate that subsea cable projects are economically viable for local providers in both developed and emerging markets.

The study by Analysys Mason suggested that Meta’s investments in the APAC region, where the company has developed two subsea cables (the Asia-Pacific Gateway and Jupiter), are expected to add approximately $422 billion in GDP between 2021 and 2025. It is also estimated that 3.7 million new jobs will be created in the region as a result.

Meta has significant growth plans in the APAC region with plans having been announced for eight new submarine cables which are due to be ready for service by 2025.

In Europe, where Meta has invested in the transatlantic Marea system as well as several other systems (such as AEC1 and Havfrue), RTI International found that the investment has been contributing about $18 billion per year since 2019 to Europe’s economy (equal to approximately 6 percent of its current average annual growth). 

Meta also has plans to land two new cable systems in Europe in the next five years. By 2027, the new systems will be contributing roughly $65 billion per year to the European economy.

Through this event, we aim to:
• Fully unleash the value of 5G networks, develop new applications and business models, and accelerate 5G business success.
• Share best practices in developing green networks and explore ways to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.
• Develop efficient, intelligent, and green IT infrastructure to enable digital and intelligent transformation for new growth…

Through this event, we aim to:

• Fully unleash the value of 5G networks, develop new applications and business models, and accelerate 5G business success.

• Share best practices in developing green networks and explore ways to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.

• Develop efficient, intelligent, and green IT infrastructure to enable digital and intelligent transformation for new growth.

To view the live stream, please click below:

[embedded content]

Event Schedule:

16:00-16:10: Welcome Speech – Ryan Ding, Executive Director, President of the Carrier BG, President of the Enterprise BG, Huawei

16:10-16:20: Embracing the Green Deal for Sustainable Development  – Massamba Thioye, UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub

Session 1: 5G Lighting up the Future – 16:20-17:10

• Leading 5G Development to Build a Digital Intelligence Future – Li Huidi, Vice President of China Mobile Communications Corporation

• 5G Leading Network Brings Business Success – Mallikarjun Rao, Chief Technology & Information officer | Member of Executive board at Telefónica, Deutschland

• Exploring the Road of 5G Success – Alan Loh, Innovation & Solutions Executive General Manager, Zain KSA

• Thailand 5G+Smart Hospital – Prof. Dr. Prasit Watanapa, M.D. Dean of Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital

• Green Terminal, Digital Twin and 5G, A Realised Vision – Dr. Adam Talosi, Deputy CEO, Member of the board, East-West Intermodal Terminal

Session 2: More Bits, Less Watts – 17:10-18:05

• Mobile Net Zero: State of the Industry on Climate Action – Steven Moore, Head of Climate Action, GSMA

• 5 Misconceptions of Green Development – Dr. Philip(Xiaodi) Song, Chief Marketing Officer, Huawei Carrier BG

• Orange Energy Challenge – Hervé Suquet, Group Energy SVP, Orange Group

• ICT Enabling Sustainability – Luis Neves, CEO of GeSI

• Our Path to Net Zero – Bernd Leven, Head of Energy Performance, Vodafone Group

• Energy Efficiency- “Getting the Grip” – Tanveer Mohammad, SVP, Head of Global Operation, Telenor Group

Session 3: +IT, New Growth – 18:05-18:45

• +IT, New Growth – David Wang, Executive Director of the Board, Chairman of ICT Infrastructure Managing Board, Huawei

• OneStorage: Launch of innovative digital infrastructure products – Dr. Peter(Yuefeng) Zhou, Senior Vice President, President of Data Storage and Intelligent Vision Product Line, Huawei 

• Safaricom PLC Discussion of Digital Transformation – George Njuguna Kamau, CIO of Safaricom

• Trend of IT Infrastructure Digitalization in Telecoms – Ajeet Das, IDC Research Director

Online Video + Broadcast – 18:45-19:15

• Transforming To The Cognitive Telco: How AIS Hopes To Change The Game And Win – Sanjay Andrew Thomas, CIO of AIS

• Diving into Digital: Everything as a Service for New Growth – Dong Libin, Director, Huawei Cloud Computing Marketing Dept

• Every day a little greener – Jeroen Cox, Strategic Lead Energy & Environment KPN

Around a year ago, 1&1 signed an agreement with Deutsche Telekom (DT), allowing its affiliate 1&1 Versatel to use DT’s FTTH and VDSL networks for the next 10 years. Included within the contract was a clause allowing for the expansion of this agreement to allow 1&1 to directly market its FTTH products in future when such services were ready…

Around a year ago, 1&1 signed an agreement with Deutsche Telekom (DT), allowing its affiliate 1&1 Versatel to use DT’s FTTH and VDSL networks for the next 10 years. Included within the contract was a clause allowing for the expansion of this agreement to allow 1&1 to directly market its FTTH products in future when such services were ready. 

Now, such an expansion is coming to pass, with DT making all of its direct fibre optic connections available to 1&1 as a direct wholesale customer, having overcame the necessary regulatory hurdles.

The first FTTH product contract has been signed, allowing 1&1 to offer its own FTTH products to consumers using Telekom’s infrastructure with immediate effect. 

“This contract is another clear signal to the market. We come to an agreement without regulation and create fair conditions. We stand for free access to our networks. And we expect other companies to commit to this principle of Open Access just like Telekom,” said Dr Kerstin Baumgart, SVP of Deutsche Telekom’s wholesale business. “Millions of people and companies benefit from sharing our network. That’s good for Germany. Telekom is Germany’s fibre optic company. Nationwide cooperation is a mainstay of our strategy. All sides benefit from this partnership: we make greater use of our network, our marketing partner gets a greater reach and the customers have a variety of providers.”

Telekom notes that it is aiming to have roughly 10 million FTTH connections by the end of 2024.

The move comes as part of the German regulator, Bundesnetzagentur’s, decision in 2021 to regulate fibre networks less strictly than the industry’s previous copper iterations, hoping to create an environment in which fibre rollouts can expand rapidly across the country. 

Also in the news: 
Tonga back online as submarine cable repaired
AT&T chasing green goals with new solar power purchase

Vodafone has this week confirmed that it has launched an initial sale of 63.6 million shares, equivalent to a roughly 2.4% stake, in India’s largest tower company, Indus Towers.
At the same time, Indian media claimed that Vodafone was also in advanced discussions to sell a further 4.7% stake, with sources suggesting that the potential buyer is likely Bharti Airtel. 
Indus Towers, previously known as Bharti Infratel, has almost 180,000 towers across India and plays an integral role in the nation&’…

Vodafone has this week confirmed that it has launched an initial sale of 63.6 million shares, equivalent to a roughly 2.4% stake, in India’s largest tower company, Indus Towers.

At the same time, Indian media claimed that Vodafone was also in advanced discussions to sell a further 4.7% stake, with sources suggesting that the potential buyer is likely Bharti Airtel. 

Indus Towers, previously known as Bharti Infratel, has almost 180,000 towers across India and plays an integral role in the nation’s mobile connectivity. According to the company, three of every five mobile calls in India are carried over the company’s infrastructure. 

In March 2021, the company had an enterprise value of roughly $11.6 billion, with each individual tower worth around $65,000.

Vodafone currently owns 28.1% in the tower company, while Bharti Airtel hold a $41.8% stake.

Reports suggest that these stake sales are just the beginning, with discussions said to be ongoing “with several interested parties” for the sale of the rest of Vodafone’s stake in the business. The whole 28.1% stake has an estimated value of around $2.5 billion.

The funds raised from this stake sale will seemingly be used to help prop up Vodafone’s Indian joint venture, Vi, which has been on the verge of bankruptcy for many years now. 

In the past, with Vi facing enormous adjusted gross revenue (AGR) payments to the Indian government and facing intense competition at cutthroat prices from Reliance Jio, Vodafone and fellow investor in the joint venture, Aditya Birla Group (ABG), had been loathe to further invest in what appeared to be a sinking ship.

However, a recently agreed relief package for the Indian telecoms market, alongside an industry-wide price hike, has made the survival of Vi far more viable, with both Vodafone and Aditya Birla saying they would continue to support the business after all, preparing to raise additional capital via the issuance of equity shares.

At the start of this year, the Indian government also agreed to take a 35.8% stake in Vi, converting the roughly $2.1 billion debt they owed the government into equity.

“The first step in this process included the conversion of $2.1 billion of AGR and spectrum interest into equity, which will make the Indian government the largest shareholder of Vi. Vodafone and ABG intend to contribute towards an issue of equity shares by Vi (a ‘capital raise’) once the terms of such a capital raise have been evaluated and decided on by the board of directors,” the company said in a statement. 

But despite fresh investment and relative relief from government dues, Vi still has its work cut out for it, with the company recording its steepest subscriber fall in five months back in November. In that month alone, the company lost around 1.9 million mobile subscribers, while its rivals, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, continue to grow, gaining 2 million and 1.3 million subscribers, respectively. 

Vi’s subscriber base, at the time, had been declining for 36 consecutive months.

With both Airtel and Jio continuing to grow, Vi will need more than just the funding from this stake sale if it is to turn its fortunes around.

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Also in the news: 
Tonga back online as submarine cable repaired
AT&T chasing green goals with new solar power purchase
Huawei Digital Power plans new $632m HQ