The release of the latest monthly UK inflation figures, which saw the Retail Price Index (RPI) fall to 4.9% (down from 13.4% at this time last year), means that UK customers of Virgin Media and O2 can now confirm how much they’re going to be impacted by the operator’s next round of annual price hikes. […]

Customers of banking and money management app Revolut may be interested to learn that they’ve just become the “first financial institution in the UK” to launch an eSIM based mobile service, which is intended more for travellers (roaming) than those seeking an alternative mobile service in the home market. The eSIM standard is an alternative […]

The TalkTalk Group has today issued a progress update on their ongoing demerger and refinancing efforts, which claims that “significant progress” has been made since their last update (Nov 2023) toward the separation of their network wholesale platform business (“PlatformX Communications“) and their residential ISP (“TalkTalk Consumer“). In case anybody has forgotten, TalkTalk spent much […]

News

The €3.4 billion deal has been complicated by 5G-related third-party agreements with Wind Tre’s rivals

In May last year, CK Hutchison announced it was carving out the fixed and mobile assets of its Italian operator Wind Tre, aiming to sell 60% of the newly formed company to Swedish infrastructure fund EQT.

The deal, valuing the business at €3.4 billion, was seen as the latest step of Wind Tre’s ‘asset light’ strategy, at a time when the highly competitive Italian market was leading to slim returns for the entire industry.

Now, however, the sale has been cancelled, with EQT issuing only a brief statement by way of explanation.

“EQT Infrastructure and CK Hutchison, Wind Tre’s current owner, have decided to terminate the transaction owing to conditions precedent to closing not being satisfied by an agreed longstop date of 12 February 2024,” read and EQT press release.

While no specifics have been given for the deal’s failure, the result should not come as a huge surprise to those following proceedings closely.

By November last year, it was already becoming apparent that completing the sale would be a troublesome process, with issues surfacing related to existing network sharing agreements with Wind Tre’s rivals, Iliad and Fastweb.

Iliad and Wind Tre partnered for a 50:50 joint venture (JV) at the start of last year, creating a new 5G wholesaler focussed on providing 5G coverage for rural parts of the country. According to sources, this deal included clauses triggered by a change of ownership, leading to an impasse between the two parent companies.

Wind Tre also has a 5G network sharing agreement with Fastweb that would be impacted by the deal, though it appeared at the time that this situation would be resolved quickly.

Ongoing negotiations to resolve these issues saw the deal between CK Hutchison and EQT repeatedly delayed, with a final deadline of February to close the deal ultimately agreed.

Now, with that deadline having come and gone, both companies have seemingly thrown in the towel – at least for now.

In EQT’s statement, the fund noted that it would continue to look for new deals in this area, without precluding taking a new approach to a deal for Wind Tre’s infrastructure spin-off.

“EQT Infrastructure will continue to explore alternative infrastructure transactions, including with CK Hutchison should the appropriate opportunity arise,” said the company.

In related news, Wind Tre itself is having a busy month, having agreed to acquire Italian fixed wireless access specialist OpNet a week ago for €485 million. The purchase will see OpNet’s more than 3,000 base stations integrated with Wind Tre’s existing infrastructure, as well as bolstering the operator’s 3.5 GHz spectrum holdings.

Want to keep up with all of the latest telecoms news from around the world? Click here to receive Total Telecom’s daily newsletter

Also in the news:
Bell Canada announces plans to cut almost 5,000 jobs
EE to invest £6 million in retail stores
Mexican president calls for dissolution of telecoms regulator

Mobile operator O2 (VMO2) has today hit a key milestone after they rolled out enhanced 4G (mobile broadband) coverage across 100 rural sites as part of their commitment under the £1bn industry-led Shared Rural Network (SRN) programme, which aims to extend geographic 4G cover (aggregate) to 95% of the UK by the end of 2025. […]

Mobile operator Vodafone has today launched their “Connected Spaces Vision” plan, which offers unlimited data to business customers that need to live stream video from IoT smart surveillance cameras over a mobile broadband (4G or 5G) network. But this is more than just a mobile plan, it’s a suit of video security features. The new […]

Alternative network provider Zzoomm, which is rolling out their new gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across parts of England, appears to have finally launched their new IP-based digital “Voice” (phone) service for customers on their full fibre lines. But it doesn’t seem to be a fully integrated product. The operator, which is being fuelled […]

After a lengthy pilot programme, Openreach (BT) has finally revealed the commercial launch date and final pricing for their faster Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband tiers, which from 1st April 2024 will make it possible for UK ISPs to push their top download speeds to 1.2Gbps and 1.8Gbps (both 120Mbps upstream) to consumers. The original pilot started […]

Scottish ISP Lothian Broadband (LBN), which is building a 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP / XGS-PON) network across rural parts of East Lothian, the Highlands and Fife, has announced that their network rollout is now being expanded across rural parts of the Black Isle area. The provider, which also operates the Highland Broadband sub-brand across the […]

Civil engineering (utilities contractor) firm OCU Group appears to have established a new Stockport-based company called Artemis Fibre (15129999), which sounds as if it might be looking to deploy and operate its own UK full fibre (FTTP broadband, Dark Fibre and Ethernet) network to help serve the needs of their clients. The development was revealed […]