15
Juil, 2022

Google takes 1.2% holding in Airtel following directorial approval

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15
Juil, 2022

Virgin Media O2 offers £3bn for TalkTalk

Today, a report from Sky News suggests that Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) has approached TalkTalk with an offer of £3 billion to takeover the UK ISP. 
Sources suggest that the indicative bid was submitted over the last few weeks…

Today, a report from Sky News suggests that Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) has approached TalkTalk with an offer of £3 billion to takeover the UK ISP. 

Sources suggest that the indicative bid was submitted over the last few weeks, with ongoing discussion being held on a ‘non-exclusive basis’.

TalkTalk Is the fourth largest ISP in the UK, with around 4.2 million subscribers, roughly 2.4 million of which are for fibre broadband. For VMO2, the acquisition would make them and even greater rival to BT in the broadband space, leaving Sky in a distant third place.

TalkTalk was taken private in 2020 and, ever since then, has been the subject of much speculation in the UK telecoms industry. Earlier this year, multiple reports suggested that TalkTalk had received takeover interest from both Vodafone and Sky, though no deal ultimately materialised.  

It was around this time that TalkTalk announced it had appointed investment bank Lazard to review their options with regards to any potential suitors. 

Now, it remains to be seen whether this new interest from VMO2 will inspire Vodafone or Sky to relaunch their own takeover bids for TalkTalk.
 

How would this acquisition of TalkTalk by VMO2 reshape the UK telecoms market? Find out from the experts at this year’s live Connected Britain event   

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15
Juil, 2022

Airtel deploys India’s first private 5G network with Bosch

Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), India’s premier communications solutions provider today announced successful trial of India’s first 5G Private Network at Bosch Automotive Electronics India Pvt Ltd (RBAI) facility in Bengaluru.
Airtel’s on-premise 5G Captive Private Network was built over the trial 5G spectrum allocated by the Department of Telecom (DoT). Airtel has implemented two Industrial grade use cases for quality improvement and operational efficiency at Bosch&’…

Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), India’s premier communications solutions provider today announced successful trial of India’s first 5G Private Network at Bosch Automotive Electronics India Pvt Ltd (RBAI) facility in Bengaluru.

Airtel’s on-premise 5G Captive Private Network was built over the trial 5G spectrum allocated by the Department of Telecom (DoT). Airtel has implemented two Industrial grade use cases for quality improvement and operational efficiency at Bosch’s state of the art manufacturing facility, utilising the trial spectrum. In both the cases, 5G technology such as mobile broadband and ultra reliable low latency communications drove automated operations ensuring faster scale up and reduced downtimes.

The private network set up on trial spectrum at the Bosch facility has the capability to manage thousands of connected devices along with delivering multi- GBPS throughput.

The Private 5G network provides greater reliability, enhanced security and huge flexibility, freeing the operations from wire-dependency to enable Bosch in achieving the benefits of automated operations. In any manufacturing set up, quality and efficiency are very important tools to measure.

With Airtel 5G Captive Private Network, Bosch Manufacturing Execution System was able to significantly reduce the time taken to asses the quality through Automatic Optical Inspection (AOI) of surface mounted devices.

The process was made efficient by ensuring faster transfer of data over highly reliable and secure network to an AI/ML server for real-time decision making by Bosch Manufacturing Execution System (MES).

The blazing fast, low latency, high speed, Airtel 5G also helped Bosch shop floor managers and operators identify and resolves issues in real time thus reducing the Mean Time To Repair ( MTTR ) and Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF).

Ajay Chitkara, Director and CEO – Airtel Business said, “Airtel is committed to India’s digital transformation and supporting the development of its enterprise as they seek to acquire global scale. We believe that Airtel has the world class infrastructure, partnerships and expertise to deliver Captive Private Network Solution in any part of the country and to enterprise of any size.”

Subhash P, Head of Technical Functions, Bosch Automotive Electronics India states: “The low latency and reliable connectivity provided by the Airtel Private 5G network at our facility which was experienced during the proof of concept is enabling us to enhance our efficiency and our productivity .Usage of 5G will significantly reduce IT wired infrastructure and enhance the operational effeciency.”

Airtel is spearheading the 5G technology in India, testing various vertical industry use cases with multiple partners and at several locations as a part of its #5GforBusiness.

Last year, Airtel successfully demonstrated India’s first 5G experience over a live 4G network in Hyderabad. It has also demonstrated India’s first rural 5G trial as well as the first cloud gaming experience on 5G. As part of #5GforBusiness, Airtel has joined forces with leading global consulting and technology companies and brands to test 5G based solutions.

Want to keep up to date with the latest developments in the world of telecoms? Subscribe to receive Total Telecom’s daily newsletter here
Also in the news:
Planes, trains, and automobiles: Starlink gets FCC greenlight for moving vehicle internet
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TIM to shift almost half its Italian staff into NetCo

15
Juil, 2022

South African shakeup: MTN in talks to buy Telkom

Today, MTN Group has announced it has entered into negotiations to acquire Telkom South Africa, telling shareholders to ‘exercise caution’ when dealing with the company’s securities until further announcements have been made.
Financial details of the potential takeover have not been announced…

Today, MTN Group has announced it has entered into negotiations to acquire Telkom South Africa, telling shareholders to ‘exercise caution’ when dealing with the company’s securities until further announcements have been made.

Financial details of the potential takeover have not been announced, but MTN says it is seeking to purchase the entirety of Telkom, either by offering equivalent shares in MTN or by a combination of shares and cash.

MTN has been interested in purchasing Telkom for many years. Back in 2014, the South African Competition Commission had blocked an offer from MTN to buy Telkom’s radio access network due to its impact in reducing market competition, and since then murmurs of a takeover have been rife. Most recently, rumours were circulating in November 2021, with sources suggesting that Telkom had rejected a takeover offer.

Since then, however, Telkom’s chief executive has changed, with former MTN executive Serame Taukobong replacing the outgoing Sipho Maseko. This perhaps explains Telkom’s apparent willingness to engage in overt talks with MTN.

Nonetheless, MTN and Telkom were quick to stress that negotiations are only just beginning, with no deal yet finalised.

“Discussions are at an early stage and there is no certainty that the transaction will be consummated,” said the companies in a joint statement.

The merger would create a new mobile market leader, combining MTN’s 31% market share with Telkom’s rapidly growing 15% share. Current market leader, Vodacom, dominates the market with a 42% share.

As a result, the South African competition regulators would be sure to heavily scrutinise any potential deal and would likely impose strict conditions to ensure that healthy competition is maintained within the sector.
 

Want to keep up to date with the latest developments in the world of telecoms? Subscribe to receive Total Telecom’s daily newsletter here
Also in the news:
Planes, trains, and automobiles: Starlink gets FCC greenlight for moving vehicle internet
KDDI network outage hits almost 40m people
TIM to shift almost half its Italian staff into NetCo

14
Juil, 2022

New partnership aims to use railway lines to boost 5G in Brazil

A project that could massively expand the available infrastructure for 5G in Brazil has been mooted by two major players in their fields in that country.

Brazilian telecoms company Surf Tech has reportedly signed a partnership with Rumo, a logistics company with a strong focus on railways, to jointly implement a rail-based fibre optic network on the country’s railway lines – to the benefit, it is hoped, of 5G.

The Tele.Síntese telecommunications, internet and ICTs portal says that the initial investment is estimated at R$1.5 billion (about $275.5 million), which will be raised through the issuance of debentures by Surf Tech.

Rumo’s participation appears to involve the assignment of the right to deploy optical fibre along the railway tracks it manages. The project could target as much as 14,000 kilometres of tracks managed by Rumo.

Local newspaper reports suggest that the network, designed to handle traffic of up to one billion Gpbs, could be a million times more powerful than an undersea cable connecting Brazil to the United States, with a transformative effect on the implementation of 5G in Brazil.

In fact more than 500 municipalities that currently host train lines managed by Rumo could benefit. Implemented by Surf Tech, such a project could be a major boost to sectors such as logistics, health and education.

Both parties are understandably upbeat about the prospects for such a project. According to the Executive Consulting Manager of Rumo, Renato Caldo, the partnership is “a milestone for the country’s infrastructure”. However, it’s now a question of when and how it might actually happen.

MORE ARTICLES YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN…

14
Juil, 2022

Six Tips to Personalize Your Sales Pitch

Personalize your Sales Pitch

Sales presentations are proposals for a product or service and can be either formal or informal. A sales pitch is more relaxed than a presentation template and is often used to make initial contact with potential customers. It should always have three things:

  1. A clear introduction of who you are
  2. What you’re offering
  3. The benefits of your offer

This blog post is about personalizing your sales pitch. A good sales pitch appeals to the needs and desires of the person on the other side of the table. But how do you tailor your pitch when you do not know who your audience is? 

Keep reading to learn six tips on personalizing your next sales pitch.

1. Do Your Homework

Leads and customers will respect the fact you took the time to research them and their company. You do not need to go to the extent of internet stalking to know where their last family vacation was. But you should be familiar with the company, their key priorities, and where they have offices. Doing your research will show how invested you are in taking this connection seriously.

2. Use Their Name

Thanks to your research, you should have all the information you need about the contact. Whether writing an email or making a phone call, you should always state the lead’s name, title, and company. 

A good backup plan is to research additional persons in the company with a similar role or title. In case the lead you are trying to contact is unavailable, you can quickly ask to speak with someone else. 

3. Say Your Name

While you’re at it, make sure you say your name! Stating your name more than once will ensure the person you speak to will remember it. Start the conversation with your name, title, and company. If it comes up naturally throughout the conversation, drop your name again. If not, wait until the end to remind them. It is best practice to share credentials often to establish credibility and add a personal connection.

4. Have a Solution to Their Problem

By researching your customer, you should be aware of one of the biggest problems they are facing. Perhaps their current provider has unreachable sales quotas, or their solution does not offer the latest unified communications features. Not all problems are surface-level, and your lead may not even know them. 

For example, in your research, you may have found your lead currently does not offer SMS. You now have an opportunity to showcase the benefits of adding this additional feature to their existing offering. 

Everyone has the ‘best’ solutions, but your customer wants to hear how your solutions can help them. If you can not provide the results, do not waste your time by contacting them.

5. Match Their Behavior

If you connect with a direct and results-driven person, match their attitude by showing them stats and getting to the point. But, if the lead is friendly and chatty, don’t be afraid to open up and give them the floor to speak. 

No person is the same; therefore, no sales pitch will be the same. Adjust your strategies accordingly and treat the exchange as a conversation rather than you reading directly off a script.

6. Make them Feel Important

As we draw our post close, the most essential tip is ensuring your lead feels important. Let the person know how you found their company and discuss their recently published blog post. Or tell the individual that your marketing department identified their company as a good fit for a partnership.

When you make your lead feel important, you can gauge their timeline and assist them in deciding if they want to proceed with the next steps. 

Do you want to hear our sales pitch? Contact our sales team today!

14
Juil, 2022

Last minute Brookfield bid wins DT’s towers

Today, Deutsche Telekom has announced that it has agreed to sell a majority stake in its tower unit to Brookfield and DigitalBridge, after the pair submitted a late bid of €17.5 billion.
 
The duo will subsequently own 51% of the tower unit, with Deutsche Telekom retaining the remaining 49%.
  « We crystalise the value of our tower assets…

Today, Deutsche Telekom has announced that it has agreed to sell a majority stake in its tower unit to Brookfield and DigitalBridge, after the pair submitted a late bid of €17.5 billion.

The duo will subsequently own 51% of the tower unit, with Deutsche Telekom retaining the remaining 49%.

« We crystalise the value of our tower assets, thereby creating value for our shareholders, » said Deutsche Telekom CEO, Timotheus Höttge, noting that this could open the door for further consolidation of the European tower market.

The unit has roughly 40,600 sites across Germany and Austria, supported by roughly 800 staff.

Deutsche Telekom first began the process of selling a stake in Deutsche Funkturm back in March, initially drawing much interest not only from private equity but from a rival tower companies like Vodafone’s Vantage Towers and Orange’s TOTEM.

In fact, Brookfield itself had initially partnered with Spanish towers giant Cellnex for a bid, but this offer was withdrawn on Wednesday for undisclosed reasons.

At the time, it appeared to onlookers that the withdrawal by Cellnex left just one suitor in contention for the tower unit: a KKR-led consortium backed by fellow private equity firms Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and Stonepeak.

However, reports late last night revealed Brookfield’s new bid alongside DigitalBridge, seemingly sweeping the rug from underneath KKR and co at the last moment. 

According to Deutsche Telekom, the deal will allow them to reduce their debt pile of roughly €136 billion by around €10.7 billion, as well as helping them fund the further rollout of 5G and fibre in various markets. 

In addition, the money will also be used to fund the purchase of further shares in T-Mobile US, with Deutsche Telekom inching ever closer to a controlling stake in the business over the past few years.

Telekom currently owns a 48.4% in the US giant, having paid $2.4 billion to SoftBank Group back in April to increase their stake by 1.7%. 

Naturally, the deal with Brookfield and DigitalBridge deal is subject to all the typical regulatory approvals, with an anticipated closing date yet to be announced. 
 

How will this sale affect the German mobile market? Find out from the operators themselves at this year’s live Connected Germany event 

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