Today sees the start of a two-day strike by BT and Openreach workers, with over 260 picket lines being set up across the UK, according to the Communication Workers Union (CWU).
The conflict has arisen as a result of a companywide flat rate pay rise of £1,500 announced back in April. BT says this is the largest frontline worker pay rise it has given out in 20 years, but the unions say that this is a ‘pay cut in real terms&’…

Today sees the start of a two-day strike by BT and Openreach workers, with over 260 picket lines being set up across the UK, according to the Communication Workers Union (CWU).

The conflict has arisen as a result of a companywide flat rate pay rise of £1,500 announced back in April. BT says this is the largest frontline worker pay rise it has given out in 20 years, but the unions say that this is a ‘pay cut in real terms’, given that inflation is nearing 10% in the UK.

At a time when the cost-of-living crisis is hitting everyone across the country, BT has also been accused of setting up a ‘food bank’ for staff at one of its EE call centres in Tyneside, with critics suggesting this was normalising in-work poverty. 

The operator argues that its “CommunitEE pantry” is not a food bank, but rather a voluntary initiative where staff can take and leave food, saying staff might use it on days when they “don’t have time to visit the supermarket”.

This was also announced against the backdrop of a largely successful year for BT, which last year saw profits of £1.3 billion. Roughly $700 million was paid out to shareholders in 2021 and CEO Philip Jansen received a pay rise of 32% to £3.5 million. 

« This dispute sits squarely at the feet of Philip Jansen (BT’s chief executive). He represents everything that needs to change about big business in Britain,” said the CWU’s general secretary, Dave Ward. « Our members kept the country connected during the pandemic. They deserve a proper pay rise, and that’s what they’re going to get. »

BT, however, says that its exhaustive negotiations with the unions have failed and that it is not prepared to offer a pay increase to workers.

When asked by the Financial Times if he would consider increasing staff salary further, Jansen reportedly answered “why would I do that?”, telling the newspaper “it’s history”.

« We have confirmed to the CWU that we won’t be re-opening the 2022 pay review, having already made the best award we could,” said BT in an official statement. 

« We’re balancing the complex and competing demands of our stakeholders and that includes making once-in-a-generation investments to upgrade the country’s broadband and mobile networks, vital for the UK economy and for BT Group’s future – including our people.

« While we respect the choice of our colleagues who are CWU members to strike, we will work to minimise any disruption and keep our customers and the country connected.”

Unlike rail and postal strikes, striking telecoms workers will not mean an immediate shut down of services for customers. BT says it has implemented “tried and tested processes” to manage any disruption that the strikes may cause to its operations.

Nonetheless, the walkout of around 28,000 engineers and 9,000 call centre workers today and on Monday next week is sure to cause some disruption, the true extent of which has yet to become clear. 

Will industrial action have a major impact on BT’s ability to meet national rollout goals? Join the operators in discussion at this year’s live Connected Britain conference 

Also in the news:

The company announced that it plans to spend €6.5 billion by 2030 to deploy 22,000 new sites across its 12 European markets, indicating a shift away from M&A activity following the recent failed attempt to acquire Deutsche Telekom&’…

The company announced that it plans to spend €6.5 billion by 2030 to deploy 22,000 new sites across its 12 European markets, indicating a shift away from M&A activity following the recent failed attempt to acquire Deutsche Telekom’s towers portfolio in Germany and Austria, which was eventually purchased by investors DigitalBridge and Brookfield two weeks ago.

Cellnex had previously acquired sites across Europe at a rapid pace, including a €10bn deal to acquire CK Hutchinson’s European portfolio back in 2020. However, Cellnex are now pivoting to focus on consolidation and organic growth, with CEO Tobias Martinez indicating that the focus for the short term will be on potentially bolting on projects and smaller scale acquisitions, though he didn’t rule out a return to large-scale M&A if the opportunities were there.

While Cellnex lost out on DT’s tower portfolio, the company are in a strong position overall, posting revenues of €1.69bn in the first half of 2022, a 59% increase on the same period last year. While costs have also increased, this is expected given the growth of its portfolio across Europe. As the operator described, “the key financial indicators continue to reflect Cellnex’s expanded geographic footprint – after integrating the sites acquired in 2021 – and the strength of the Group’s organic business.”

As always with Europe’s passive infrastructure market – watch this space.

Another national fibre network player is set to hit the UK market, with Liberty Global and Telefonica teaming up with InfraVia Capital Partners to create and operate a wholesale FTTH JV. The JV will be owned 50% by Liberty and Telefonica via a holding company…

Another national fibre network player is set to hit the UK market, with Liberty Global and Telefonica teaming up with InfraVia Capital Partners to create and operate a wholesale FTTH JV.

The JV will be owned 50% by Liberty and Telefonica via a holding company, with the remaining 50% held by French investment firm InfraVia.  

The partners will invest roughly £4.5 billion in rolling out fibre, with the JV will initially target 5 million homes, none of which will overlap with Virgin Media O2 (VMO2)’s existing fibre footprint. A further 2 million homes could be added at a later stage.

Virgin Media O2 itself is currently working to upgrade its own national footprint of 16 million homes to FTTH, hence the two combined networks aim to cover 23 million premises with fibre.

“This JV will take our aggregate FTTH footprint to up to 23 million homes, reaching around 80% of the UK. VMO2 will bring significant build expertise, and will benefit from a meaningful off-net growth opportunity and as the anchor client will support attractive returns for the JV – a winning combination,” explained Mike Fries, CEO and Vice Chairman of Liberty Global. “Finally, we are very excited to be working with InfraVia who we already partner with in Germany, and welcome the expertise they bring to the JV.”

VMO2 will be the anchor client of the new network.

The deal is expected to close in Q4 this year, pending regulatory approval.  

The creation of this new JV will be a headache for BT, which is today in the news as a result of nationwide strikes by the Communications Workers Union.

Much like VMO2, BT is currently in the process of increase its fibre rollout, targeting 25 million homes by the end of 2026.

How will this new JV shake up the UK’s connectivity industry? Find out from the experts at this year’s live Connected Britain conference

Also in the news:

Orange Belgium first announced their intention to take a 75% stake in fixed line operator VOO back in November 2021, with the Wallonia-based operator valued at roughly €1.8 billion.
The move would present Orange the chance to offer both mobile and fixed line services in Belgium for the first time – a key element of Orange’s wider Engage2025 strategy, which aims to create converged fixed and wireless businesses throughout the company&’…

Orange Belgium first announced their intention to take a 75% stake in fixed line operator VOO back in November 2021, with the Wallonia-based operator valued at roughly €1.8 billion.

The move would present Orange the chance to offer both mobile and fixed line services in Belgium for the first time – a key element of Orange’s wider Engage2025 strategy, which aims to create converged fixed and wireless businesses throughout the company’s European portfolio.

The Belgian fixed line market is currently dominated by the Proximus and Telenet, which have market shares of 44.8% and 36.2%, respectively. VOO sits in a somewhat distant third place with roughly 10.3%. 

In the Belgian mobile market, meanwhile, Orange Belgium’s market share sits at around 25.7%, slightly behind Telenet’s 27.2%. Unsurprisingly, incumbent Proximus dominates in this market too, with a market share of around 40%.

As such, this majority stake sale would pull together the third-place players in both the fixed and mobile markets, potentially giving both companies a considerable opportunity to broaden their subscriber base. 

Naturally, any such deal of this scale and potentially disruptive impact to the market will draw the attention of antitrust regulators, which have been conducting preliminary investigations into the deal for the past few months. 

Now, anonymous sources are suggesting that this initial probe by the regulators will be conclude today with the announcement of a deeper, four-month investigation. 

This decision is reportedly a result of Orange failing to offer meaningful concessions to address the regulator’s competition concerns.

Orange argues that the deal will be good for Belgian customers and increase competition in the Wallonian market. 

« The opening of this phase is a new step during which we will have the time and the opportunity to demonstrate to the Commission that this transaction is beneficial for the sector and will make it possible to sustainably strengthen competition throughout Belgium, » said Orange in a statement. 

The past two months has been busy for the Belgian telecoms sector, which not only raised €1.2 billion in its latest spectrum auction but has also seen both Telenet and Proximus advance plans to create their own new fibre joint ventures for Wallonia and Flanders.

This growing interest in fibre deployment in Belgium should come as little surprise. Belgium has one of the lowest fibre penetration rates in Europe, lagging far behind its neighbours, particularly France. This creates a major opportunity for investors and telcos, who have in recent years combined their efforts with those of the Belgian government to deploy fibre at an astonishing rate. 

Today, Belgium has the fastest fibre deployment rate in Europe – something that Orange is surely looking to take advantage of.
 

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