Network operator nexfibre, which shares the same parentage as Virgin Media (VMO2), has this morning announced that they’ve extended their new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP / XGS-PON) broadband ISP network to cover 1 million UK premises passed (Ready for Service), which is up from 830,000 in December 2023.

In case a recap is needed. Telefónica, Liberty Global and InfraVia Capital Partners originally setup the new £4.5bn nexfibre joint venture in 2022 (here), which aims to deploy an open access fibre network to reach “up to” 7 million UK homes (starting with 5m by 2026) in areas NOT currently served by Virgin Media’s network of 16m+ premises. The funding reflects £3.3bn of fully underwritten financing and up to £1.4bn in equity commitments.

Nexfibre says they’ve “reached one million premises faster than any other operator” (see build map / progress), achieving it in just 14 months, through their build partnership with Virgin Media. The operator is also in the process of investing another £1bn during 2024 in order for them cover an additional 1 million UK premises (on top of their existing footprint).

“The business is set to deliver its network to more premises than any other fibre provider in 2024, except for the incumbent, which will make it the UK’s second-largest network provider in only its second year of operations,” said the announcement. But this statement seems to conflate pace of build with overall coverage, which ignores the fact that CityFibre already covers 3.5 million UK premises (3.2m RFS) and could potentially add up to 1.5-3m extra premises over the next two years via both new build and M&A (mergers) activity (here).

Rajiv Datta, CEO of nexfibre, said:

“It’s thanks to the hard work of our team, our partners, and the commitment of our investors that we are able to mark this significant milestone on our path to reaching 5 million premises by 2026.

And we’re just getting started. As we continue to accelerate activity, we remain steadfast in our commitment to delivering the high-quality digital infrastructure that has the power to create lasting value in the communities we serve.

We firmly believe that we are building a platform to foster sustainable competition in the UK fibre market, that will drive innovation for generations to come.”

At the time of writing, it remains unclear whether the new coverage figure includes the 175,000 FTTP premises strong network acquired last year from Upp (here), which at the last update was still in the process of being integrated and so hadn’t yet been included into their coverage figure(s). We suspect the same may still be true today, but are currently trying to confirm.

News 

The investment cements Abu Dhabi and the wider United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s position as a global AI hub 

Microsoft and UAE-based AI company G42 have announced a strategic partnership to accelerate AI innovation in the UAE and neighbouring regions.  

The partnership involves a $1.5 billion investment in G42 from Microsoft, giving them an unspecified minority stake in the company.  

Brad Smith, Microsoft’s Vice Chair and President, will also join G42’s board of directors.  

The focus of the partnership is to innovate and deliver advanced AI solutions supported by Microsoft Azure across various industries, including finance, healthcare, energy, government, and education. 

Specifically, Microsoft will give G42 permission to sell Microsoft services that use AI chips and in return, G42 will use Microsoft’s cloud platform to run its AI applications. 

“The commercial partnership is backed by assurances to the US and UAE governments through a first-of-its-kind binding agreement to apply world-class best practices to ensure the secure, trusted, and responsible development and deployment of AI,” read the press release. 

The partnership also includes initiatives to train AI talent through a $1 billion fund for developers, promoting skills development and fostering innovation in emerging markets. 

“Through Microsoft’s strategic investment, we are advancing our mission to deliver cutting-edge AI technologies at scale. This partnership significantly enhances our international market presence, combining G42’s unique AI capabilities with Microsoft’s robust global infrastructure,” said G42 CEO Peng Xiao in a press release. 

The ongoing US-China power struggle for the UAE 

‘This investment takes place against the backdrop of both the US and China attempting to grow their influence in the UAE’s flourishing technology industry’. The deal has been finalised in close collaboration with both the US and UAE governments to ensure that G42 is fully compliant with US regulations.  

President Biden’s government has been notably concerned over increasing closeness between The Gulf Cooperation Council and China, a relationship which would potentially limit companies in the Middle East from being trusted partners in the US.  

Back in January, Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI), Chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, expressed concerns that G42 had links to Chinese firms blacklisted by the US government, including Huawei, which G42 denied.  

Then, in February, G42 announced its intention to divest in its Chinese businesses interests, a move G42 explained as an effort to reassure US partners, who include US private equity firm Silver Lake, of data sovereignty.  

The size of the divestments was not disclosed, but stakes included an estimated $100m in ByteDance, owner of TikTok.  

Speaking to the Financial Times, Xiao said “For better or for worse, as a commercial company, we are in a position where we have to make a choice. We cannot work with both sides.” 

The New York Times’ report adds that the deal today puts protections on the AI materials Microsoft may share with G42. These include an agreement for G42 to remove Chinese equipment from their operations, including Huawei equipment, which the US government fears “could provide a backdoor for Chinese intelligence agencies.” 

“In order for us to preserve our relationship – which we cherish – with our US partners, we simply cannot do much more with Chinese partners,”said Xiao. 

The US position on the matter remains painfully clear, as laid out by numerous government representatives.  

“When it comes to emerging technology, you cannot be both in China’s camp and our camp,” said Gina Raimondo, the Commerce Secretary, according to a report from the New York Times. 

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom daily newsletter

Also in the news:
South Korea to invest $7 billion in AI semiconductors
Swisscom expands 5G partnership with Ericsson
Daisy Group set to acquire 4Com for £215m 

News 

The investment cements Abu Dhabi and the wider United Arab Emirates (UAE)’ position as a global AI hub 

Microsoft and UAE-based AI company G42 have announced a strategic partnership to accelerate AI innovation in the UAE and neighbouring regions.  

The partnership involves a $1.5 billion investment in G42 from Microsoft, giving them an unspecified minority stake in the company.  

Brad Smith, Microsoft’s Vice Chair and President, will also join G42’s board of directors.  

The focus of the partnership is to innovate and deliver advanced AI solutions supported by Microsoft Azure across various industries, including finance, healthcare, energy, government, and education. 

Specifically, Microsoft will give G42 permission to sell Microsoft services that use AI chips and in return, G42 will use Microsoft’s cloud platform to run its AI applications. 

“The commercial partnership is backed by assurances to the US and UAE governments through a first-of-its-kind binding agreement to apply world-class best practices to ensure the secure, trusted, and responsible development and deployment of AI,” read the press release. 

The partnership also includes initiatives to train AI talent through a $1 billion fund for developers, promoting skills development and fostering innovation in emerging markets. 

“Through Microsoft’s strategic investment, we are advancing our mission to deliver cutting-edge AI technologies at scale. This partnership significantly enhances our international market presence, combining G42’s unique AI capabilities with Microsoft’s robust global infrastructure,” said G42 CEO Peng Xiao in a press release. 

The ongoing US-China power struggle for the UAE 

‘This investment takes place against the backdrop of both the US and China attempting to grow their influence in the UAE’s flourishing technology industry’. The deal has been finalised in close collaboration with both the US and UAE governments to ensure that G42 is fully compliant with US regulations.  

President Biden’s government has been notably concerned over increasing closeness between The Gulf Cooperation Council and China, a relationship which would potentially limit companies in the Middle East from being trusted partners in the US.  

Back in January, Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI), Chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, expressed concerns that G42 had links to Chinese firms blacklisted by the US government, including Huawei, which G42 denied.  

Then, in February, G42 announced its intention to divest in its Chinese businesses interests, a move G42 explained as an effort to reassure US partners, who include US private equity firm Silver Lake, of data sovereignty.  

The size of the divestments was not disclosed, but stakes included an estimated $100m in ByteDance, owner of TikTok.  

Speaking to the Financial Times, Xiao said “For better or for worse, as a commercial company, we are in a position where we have to make a choice. We cannot work with both sides.” 

The New York Times’ report adds that the deal today puts protections on the AI materials Microsoft may share with G42. These include an agreement for G42 to remove Chinese equipment from their operations, including Huawei equipment, which the US government fears “could provide a backdoor for Chinese intelligence agencies.” 

“In order for us to preserve our relationship – which we cherish – with our US partners, we simply cannot do much more with Chinese partners,.”said Xiao. 

The US position on the matter remains painfully clear, as laid out by numerous government representatives.  

“When it comes to emerging technology, you cannot be both in China’s camp and our camp,” said Gina Raimondo, the Commerce Secretary, according to a report from the New York Times.  

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms by subscribing to the Total Telecom daily newsletter

Also in the news:
South Korea to invest $7 billion in AI semiconductors
Swisscom expands 5G partnership with Ericsson
Daisy Group set to acquire 4Com for £215m

News 

Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) has announced a partnership with satellite provider Starlink to boost mobile services in the UK’s most remote areas 

The operator will use Starlink’s constellation of over 5,000 Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites to support backhaul services across the country.  

Traditionally, mobile infrastructure relies on fibre optic cables or wireless point-to-point connections for backhaul, i.e., transmit data between the cell towers to the core of the network. However, in regions like the Scottish Highlands, these conventional methods are impractical, being both expensive and difficult to deploy give the areas remoteness and challenging geography.  

Through Starlink’s network of LEO satellites, VMO2 can establish reliable backhaul connections to remote masts without needing to deploy this expensive terrestrial network infrastructure.  

VMO2 notes that it has already conducted successful tests of the technology in the Scottish Highlands. 

This project has been delivered in collaboration with Telefónica Global Solutions, which is an official Starlink reseller. “By constantly finding new ways to deliver for our customers, we are bringing reliable mobile coverage to rural communities faster and helping to close the UK’s digital divide,” said Jeanie York, Chief Technology Officer at VMO2 in a press release. 

VMO2 also noted that this new partnership with Starlink will help to accelerate its Shared Rural Network (SRN) rollout by enabling new cell sites to be deployed in remote areas. 

The SRN aims to deploy 4G coverage to 95% of the UK by 2025. The £1 billion scheme is a partnership between the UK’s four mobile operators (EE, Three, Vodafone, and Virgin Media O2), and is funded by £532 million from the operators themselves and £500 million from the UK government.  

Back in January, EE announced that they had become the UK’s first MNO to compete the SRN’s first phase. To do this, operators had to commit to getting rid of ‘partial not-spots’ by extending the reach of their 4G networks. ‘Partial not-spots’ are defined as areas that receive coverage from at least one operator, but not all of them. 

Looking ahead, VMO2 noted that it is also exploring other ways satellite connectivity can benefit customers including providing coverage for emergency services and improved connectivity at events.  

Catch Virgin Media O2 at this year’s Connected North event, 22-23 April in Manchester. Get your tickets now 

Also in the news:
South Korea to invest $7 billion in AI semiconductors
Swisscom expands 5G partnership with Ericsson
Daisy Group set to acquire 4Com for £215m

News

Multiple fixed-wireless access (FWA) providers have voiced concern that T-Mobile’s 5G network has interfered with their ability to provide uninterrupted services.

By: Brad Randall, Broadband Communities

Providers of fixed wireless services in Maine, New York, and Maryland have blamed T-Mobile for disruptions to their operations, with one company even reporting the issue to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

In a March FCC filing, Bloosurf, a FWA provider that serves the Delmarva Peninsula, alleged “T-Mobile’s 5G operations are causing interference to Bloosurf’s network and its customers.”

The company’s filing, formally an Application for Review, requests that the FCC “require T-Mobile to cease 5G operations in areas impacting Bloosurf” and stay the grant of T-Mobile’s Auction 108 licenses.

The FCC’s Auction 108 licenses, awarded in 2022, offered spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band.

As the incumbent provider the Eastern Shore area, which encompasses portions of Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia, Bloosurf’s Application for Review mentioned precedent set by a prior FCC Memorandum Opinion and Order.

The 1977 order, quoted in Bloosurf’s filing, determines that ‘newcomers’ in a given service area are financially responsible “for taking whatever steps may be necessary to eliminate objectionable interference.”

“Although Bloosurf and T-Mobile have engaged in some informal interference testing, T-Mobile’s failure to meaningfully cooperate with the parties’ testing efforts undermined any efforts to yield a solution, thus forcing Bloosurf to file its informal interference complaint with the FCC,” Bloosurf’s March 28 filing stated.

The filing also requested that the FCC reinstate Bloosurf’s prior informal complaint on the matter and “take all actions to eliminate the interference.”

Previously, in Feb. of this year, Bloosurf’s informal complaint was dismissed by the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau on procedural grounds.

While Bloosurf is the first company to take the matter to the FCC , other ISPs have voiced similar concerns.

In a recent report published on LightReading.com, the CEO of Redzone Wireless was quoted as saying the Rockport, Maine-based company had lost customers because of alleged disruptions from T-Mobile’s 5G network. The same report quoted an unnamed official as saying T-Mobile’s 5G network had “crippled” parts of provider NextWave’s New York network.

While Bloosurf holds out hope for FCC enforcement, T-Mobile has continued efforts to acquire additional licenses for spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band. Through comments to the FCC, the company has urged the agency to utilize Special Temporary Authority’ (STA) to release spectrum, approve spectrum-sharing, or lease spectrum licenses.

In March 2023, Congress declined to renew the FCC’s authority to conduct spectrum auctions.

After the FCC lost auction authority, T-Mobile was unable to access the licenses it was awarded during Auction 108, which occurred while the FCC still had auction authority. Ultimately, legislation from Congress instructed the FCC to release auction winnings, but did not restore broader authority.

T-Mobile, which is seeking additional spectrum in New York, along with assignments in California, Louisiana, Kentucky, and North Carolina, noted that there are well-established processes for issuing STAs, implying that spectrum can be available quickly if the FCC activates STA.

According to the firm’s comments, additional spectrum assignments to T-Mobile would “meet the (FCC’s) goal of more efficient use of the spectrum and serve the public interest.”

Reporting from Maddie Hicks, of Total Telecom, contributed to this article.

To get content like this delivered to your inbox, subscribe to the Broadband Communities newsletter.

WALTHAM, MA — April 16, 2024 — Netcracker Technology announced today that Play, the operator that acquired UPC Poland and is part of iliad, a major European telecommunications group, has extended its relationship with Netcracker for professional services and Digital BSS, which provides support for a number of functions, from onboarding new subscribers to service activation, including billing and payments.

Play, the leading operator in Poland, offers mobile, broadband Internet and television services to customers throughout the country over its extensive mobile and fixed networks. By continuing to incorporate Netcracker’s professional services, Play will gain numerous benefits, including the highest level of system performance, visibility into critical business processes, the ability to quickly launch new products and services and unmatched service quality.

“We have been working with Netcracker for many years, through several business changes and acquisitions, and we appreciate the extensive experience and knowledge to help us in key areas, such as application development and supporting our BSS stack,” said Pawel Passowicz, Chief IT Officer at Play. “We are happy to continue our engagement going forward.”

“Play has grown and evolved over the years, making this a truly fulfilling partnership for Netcracker,” said Benedetto Spaziani, GM at Netcracker. “We are proud to be Play’s vendor of choice for BSS and support and maintenance, which when combined deliver a strong solution for the future.”

About Netcracker Technology

Rapid digitization is disrupting the status quo of today’s communications markets. Constantly evolving customer needs and behaviors require service providers to adapt quickly and diversify their businesses to deliver the outcomes that their customers expect. Building digital ecosystems, anticipating customer requirements and delivering a digital-first experience are essential for service providers to accelerate innovation, expand into new markets and become the disruptors in the 5G era.

Netcracker Technology, a wholly-owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation, has the expertise, culture and resources to help service providers around the world transform their businesses to thrive in a digital economy. Our innovative solutions – including our flagship cloud-native Netcracker Digital Platform – value-driven services and unbroken delivery track record of three decades help service providers to achieve their digital transformation goals, drive the telco to techco evolution within their organizations and realize business growth and profitability. For more information, visit www.netcracker.com.

Media Contact

Anita Karvé
Netcracker Technology
MediaGroup@Netcracker.com

News

Auramo joins from enterprise resource planning giant SAP, where she was Chief Business Officer for the EMEA region

This week, Vodafone Group has finally announced a new CEO for Vodafone Business in the form of Marika Auramo, currently the Chief Business Officer for the EMEA region for software specialist SAP.

Auramo’s career at SAP spanned various roles over the past 25 years, including COO EMEA North, Managing Director for the Nordic and Baltic region, Global COO of SAP Database and Data Management in the US, and Interim President of the EMEA region.

Auramo will officially begin the role on July 1 this year, taking over from Giorgio Migliarina, the Group Director of Products and Services, who has served in the role of interim CEO of Vodafone Business since September 2023.

Migliarina himself had filled the vacant role after the departure of Vinod Kumar, who had held the position of CEO for four years.

Speaking on the appointment, Vodafone Group CEO Margherita Della Valle said she “delighted that Marika will be joining Vodafone to lead our Business division, a key growth driver.”

“She brings extensive B2B experience from the IT industry, and I look forward to welcoming her as a member of our Executive Committee,” she added.

“I am looking forward to working with Margherita and the management team and to engaging with Vodafone’s customers and partners,” said Auramo. “Vodafone Business has strong growth opportunities ahead – as large corporates, SMEs and the public sector look to adopt more digital tools to enhance growth and productivity – and I will be working alongside my new colleagues to capture this.”

The appointment means that each of the five new business divisions created by Della Valle – Germany, European Markets, Africa, Vodafone Business, and Vodafone Investments – now has a full time CEO.

In related news, last month saw Vodafone UK announce Max Taylor, the company’s Chief Commercial Officer, take over the role of company CEO from Ahmed Essam.

Essam, meanwhile, will become Executive Chairman of Vodafone Germany and CEO of Vodafone’s European Markets.

Join the UK’s telecoms industry as they discuss the sector’s biggest topics at this year’s Connected North conference live in Manchester

Also in the news:
South Korea to invest $7 billion in AI semiconductors
Swisscom expands 5G partnership with Ericsson
Daisy Group set to acquire 4Com for £215m

The UK telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, has today issued several updates to their planned auction design for releasing a large chunk of millimetre wave (mmW) radio spectrum frequency in the 26GHz and 40GHz bands, which will be used by mobile operators to deliver faster 5G (mobile broadband) services – mostly in urban areas.

The major mobile operators (EE, O2, Vodafone and Three UK) already have access to several 5G bands between 700MHz and 3.8GHz. Such frequency reflects the same sort of mid-band radio spectrum that mobile operators have been harnessing since the advent of the first 3G and 4G data networks many years ago.

The move to auction off the two higher frequencies of 26GHz and 40GHz is designed to complement existing bands by providing mobile operators with lots of additional spectrum frequency, which means more data capacity to potentially support extremely fast speeds (e.g. multi-Gigabit performance). But mmW bands deliver extremely weak signals, which means they’re best for serving busy areas (e.g. city shopping malls, airports, events etc.) and fixed wireless broadband (FWA) links.

Ofcom set out the details for the related auction process at the end of 2023 (here), which will award several 15-year, fixed term citywide licences (“high density areas”) to use the “new” mmWave bands in 68 major towns and cities across the UK, as well as some localised licences for “low density areas” within those cities via their Shared Access licensing framework.

In the latest update, the regulator has also made a final decision on three outstanding issues in the 26GHz and 40GHz auction process.

Ofcom’s Updates to the Auction Process

1. The auction will NOT include, during the final assignment stage, a negotiation period which would normally give winners of spectrum in a band an opportunity to agree that their respective allocations of spectrum will be adjacent (mostly due to the unknowns around what cost savings, spectrum sharing and other benefits may arise for these bands).

2. Ofcom has decided to adopt the assignment stage rules initially proposed in the March 2023 Statement and Consultation (including the clarifications provided in November 2023).

3. Ofcom will not include rules governing the location of any unsold spectrum in the 40 GHz band in the assignment stage of the auction, other than to require that any unsold 40GHz lots are treated as a single, contiguous block.

4. The regulator also added that they were “minded to increase the initial deposit” that applicants will be required to submit from £100,000 to £1m, which they said is intended to “deter frivolous applications and mitigate the risk of disruption to the auction process“. But stakeholders will have a further opportunity to comment on such amounts when Ofcom consult on the Auction Regulations.

The regulator is today also consulting on the Statutory Instruments that are necessary to run the auction (here). “These enable us to limit the number of licences and allow bidders to trade licences once issued. We invite comments on the proposed Statutory Instruments by 28th May 2024,” said Ofcom.

Finally, Ofcom have also confirmed a modification to the grant of recognised spectrum access that protects the radio astronomy site in Cambridge, while enabling other users to use this spectrum; and they have clarified how they will coordinate auction winners with incumbent fixed links, for the short period during which they will both have access to the spectrum.

In the past, the years leading up to a new mobile spectrum auction have often been ugly affairs, which tend to involve a lot of squabbling between mobile operators, legal challenges and significant delays. But the mmW bands are new territory and the operators are likely to find harnessing them more of a challenge, which may arguably make them less competitively contentious.

At the same time, Ofcom won’t be proceeding with this auction until AFTER the UK’s competition watchdog (CMA) has decided on the proposed merger between Vodafone and Three UK (here and here), which is sensible as that deal may result in some changes to competitive spectrum holdings (i.e. Three UK and Vodafone may be required to divest some of their spectrum to avoid gaining an unfair competitive advantage).

The CMA’s final decision on the proposed merger between Three UK and Vodafone isn’t expected until later in 2024, and it may then take a bit longer before Ofcom can actually begin the auction process itself (possibly pushing this into 2025), assuming there are no legal squabbles along the way (a risky assumption, given the history of such auctions).

Sophia Antipolis, France, April 16 – Enreach for Service Providers, part of Enreach, the fast-growing European contact leader, has today announced a partnership with Netherlands-based CloudCTI, which delivers cloud-based CRM and ERP integrations to telecom service providers and resellers. The agreement will provide customers with access to 200+ CRM integrations. It will also support the customer experience (CX), analytics features and AI roadmap within  Enreach UP, which combines, UCaaS, CCaaS and productivity tools in a fully converged contact solution, optimised for desktop, IP phone or mobile devices.

Justin Hamilton-Martin, Director of Product Strategy, Enreach for Service Providers, says, “CloudCTI’s solution is a significant step forward in simplifying and improving customer engagement by making a technology-light but powerful bridge between CRMs and unified communications. Users do not need to install an app because CloudCTI gives them access to customer records when they need that information, such as answering an incoming call. Plus, once a call is finished, information is recorded back to the CRM or customer database. 

He continues, “Moving from a PC based, embedded client to the cloud is key for our mobile first approach, supporting tablets and will help drive user adoption for our service provider customers. In addition, dependency on the PC or client app is removed, so features work even when the PC is switched off, such as display of name resolution on all devices, including mobiles and tablets.

Adds Jan Kees Lantsheer, CEO of CloudCTI: “Furthermore, Cloud CTI has minimal impact on businesses’ existing IT infrastructure, with no need for service providers and resellers to develop additional software or customisation. Instead, our technology easily and quickly integrates Enreach UP with a CRM or customer database with minimal effort required. We already have a strong base of resellers and now look forward to extending Cloud CTI’s benefits to this new Enreach partner community.”

Bertrand Pourcelot, CEO of Enreach for Service Providers, says, “Our partnership with CloudCTI, which leverages Enreach UP’s powerful APIs, is a key part of our vision and roadmap towards smarter context-based communication, emphasising improvements to the user experience and productivity benefits. Based on a recent survey with them, we know these are essential focus areas for our service providers to support the digital transformation of their business customers. In addition, we are on a mission to help service providers and their business customers benefit from better analytics, which can catalyse successful AI adoption within the CX context.”

Justin Hamilton Martin concludes, “The two organisations have known each other for some time and have synergies such as dedication to a faster, cleaner user experience and a shared belief that CRMs play a pivotal role in enabling seamless converged contact across any device or network. We look forward to our continued collaboration and exploring further ways in which we can add to our partners’ and their customers’ successful adoption of technology that makes a tangible difference to customer engagement and user productivity.”

About Enreach for Service Providers
Enreach for Services Providers is a European leader in converged contact solutions. Our mission is to create customisable mobile-first contact solutions, enabling our partners to thrive and users to transform their interactions. Our platform “Enreach UP” enables service providers and integrators to deliver their business customers with value-added services, including FMC, video collaboration, messaging, inbound/outbound call centre functionality and conversational bots, seamlessly integrated with mobile services, Microsoft Teams, CRM and ERP systems. Our customisable-by-design platform “Enreach UP” enables full white-labelling, personalised user experience, BYOx enablement (Carrier, OSS/BSS/mobile), APIs for integration, automation & AI as well as multiple deployment options including PaaS. Enreach group operates in over 27 countries and counts more than 1,000 employees. For more information visit: https://enreach.com/sp/

About CloudCTI

CloudCTI is a brand of Keylink, a software company based in The Netherlands, providing cloud services to telecom providers and resellers focused on the integration of CRM and ERP applications. Our mission is to offer a broad range of integrations with very many different CRM applications that are very easy to implement. Fulfilling this mission has brought us thousands of resellers providing our computer telephony integration services to their customers all over the world every day. For more information visit: https://cloudcti.nl/

News

The beleaguered Indian telecoms operator says a return to growth will be possible following its $2.2 billion follow-on public offering (FPO)

Last week, Vodafone Idea announced that it would launch India’s largest ever FPO, seeking to raise almost $2.2 billion in an effort to reduce the company’s debt and provide funds for infrastructure investment.

Now, Vodafone Idea’s CEO Akshaya Moondra has revealed further details about the potential impact of this funding, saying that it should allow the operator to launch 5G services in selective areas over the next 6–9 months.

“With this round of funding, we believe we will be able to (come) back to participate in the industry growth which has not been possible,” he said.

More specifically, Moondra indicated that roughly $700 million of the total funds raised by the FPO would be used for the deployment of 5G infrastructure. This will allow for limited initial deployments, the exact locations of which have not been revealed.

Ultimately, Vodafone Idea is aiming to deploy 5G coverage to cover 40% of the company’s customer base in the next 24–30 months, with nationwide coverage to follow at an unspecified point in future.

Moondra notes that additional funds will be required for the wider rollout, with Vodafone Idea already in discussions with several banks. Exactly how much will need to be borrowed was not revealed.

Discussions with 5G equipment vendors and relevant testing has already begun.

Vodafone Idea’s difficult financial situation, centred around the billions of dollars owed to the government in licence fees and adjusted gross revenue dues, has seen the company’s ability to compete against rivals greatly diminished in recent years. Vodafone Idea lost 4.6 million subscribers in Q3 of FY2024 alone, marking nine straight months of customer reduction that financial year.

This challenging financial situation has left the operator with no choice but to delay its 5G launch behind that of its rivals, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, both of whom launched commercial 5G services at the end of last year.

Keep up to date with all the latest telecoms news from around the world with Total Telecom’s daily newsletter

Also in the news:
South Korea to invest $7 billion in AI semiconductors
Swisscom expands 5G partnership with Ericsson
Daisy Group set to acquire 4Com for £215m