A migration, a couple of technology partnerships, and a new network launch: … [visit site to read more]

News

Portugal’s National Communications Authority (Anacom) has issued punitive fines to the country’s four national mobile network operators due to their poor communication regarding price increases

This week, Anacom has issued over €15 million in fines to Meo (Altice Portugal), Nos, Vodafone, and Nowo, saying that they did not clearly communicate to customers that they could terminate their contracts before price increases were applied back in 2016.

The regulator said that the changes in prices had impacted “a high number of subscribers”, many of whom had not been suitably informed of the price increases until they were no longer able to cancel their contracts free of charge.

“In particular, the behaviour adopted by these operators is related to the lack of information, within the contractually foreseen period, on the right of subscribers to be able to terminate their contracts free of charge, in case they do not agree with the proposed price increase. by operators,” said Anacom in a translated statement.

Anacom also complained that in many cases customers were only informed that their contracts would increase in price but were not clearly told by how much.

As a result of this ruling, Anacom has fined Meo €6.7 million, Nos €5.2 million fine, Vodafone €3.1 million, and Nowo €664,000.

Nos, Vodafone and Meo have each said that they disagree with Anacom’s ruling and will legally contest the fines.

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Some subsea, some backhaul, a few new PoPs, and a bit of UC: … [visit site to read more]

PRESS RELEASE

Leeds based telco Northern Telecom has stepped in to rescue the business and assets of Toople Plc (and subsidiaries) in a deal with administrators FRP Recovery that closed on Friday..

Toople’s customer and reseller relationships (including customers of Toople and Direct Market Services Limited (DMSL)) will transition into the wider Northern Telecom group.

The transaction is the eighth for Northern Telecom in the last five years and secures provision of service for a range of small to medium sized business customers across the UK.

Toople PLC was listed on the London Stock Exchange in May 2016 and acquired DMSL in January 2020. Trading in shares was suspended on the 19th October. The deal sees the bulk of the assets and business of Toople return to private ownership.

Northern Telecom Group Operations Director Simon Rogers commented “The Toople business has underperformed over the last five years. A fundamentally flawed business model and questionable strategic decisions have masked what we believe to be a business with strong underlying financials. We’re delighted to welcome Toople customers into the wider group and we’re excited to enable the business to unleash its full potential”.

Northern Telecom Group Managing Director Jon Graves commented “We’re delighted to finalise another two acquisitions to supplement our growth this year. We look forward to supporting each customer with their IT & Telecoms requirements.”

Discover the north’s connected future. Join Total Telecom at Manchester Central on the 17 – 18 April 2023. totaltele.com/connectednorth

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News

On Friday, Orange launched 5G in Botswana – the Group’s first commercial 5G launch in Africa.

In a briefing last week, Orange Botswana’s CEO, Nene Maiga, outlined details of the launch announcing that 30% of the population would be covered with 5G available in 2 major cities including Gaborone and Francistown. Further cities will be covered by the network in due course.

Orange is planning launches in approximately 6 additional countries in the MEA region in 2023. Regulatory agreements are currently be negotiated in Jordan, which is likely to be the next launch, followed by the Ivory Coast. Then, subject to agreeing the regulatory conditions, Senegal should follow.

According to Jerôme Henique, CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa, the Group sees 5G as an opportunity to complete their broadband portfolio in Africa. The limited availability and cost of 5G handsets is still a barrier to uptake of 5G in the continent, however Orange’s regional strategy will see the Group focus on connectivity for households through their 5G fixed broadband offering.

Offers will be available for residential customers, small and medium enterprises. The fixed offers are available from15Mbps for Prepaid and from 20Mbps for Postpaid with a monthly rental from BWP 699 (€53 per month).

Orange is also exploring the development of 5G use cases for enterprise customers in Africa with a particular focus on the mining industry and ports. Orange believes that the network of 5G labs, which the Group is opening in key locations in the MEA region, is a strong differentiator for Orange 5G. Henique said that the labs would be open to startups to develop new use cases which would prove beneficial for the local the local entrepreneur ecosystem.