The recently appointed CEO of full fibre builder Digital Infrastructure (DI) and sibling broadband ISP BeFibre, Paul Daul, has today spoken to ISPreview about how they’re overcoming challenges with growing consumer take-up, limiting overbuild with rivals and the need for more UK government support. The operator, which first launched in 2021 and aims to cover […]

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A summary of all the essential financial news in the telecoms world this week 

Huawei announces half year results 

In the first half of 2023, Huawei generated CNY310.9 billion in revenue, a year-on-year increase of 3.1%, and achieved a profit margin of 15%. 

The increase was the first since 2020, when the firm became subject to major sanctions by the US that would see them cut off from numerous global markets. 

The ICT infrastructure unit of the company contributed $23.1 billion, its consumer business $14.3billion, cloud business $3.3 billion, its digital power business $3.34 billion, and its intelligent automotive solution (IAS) business $139 million.  

“In the first half of 2023, our ICT infrastructure business remained solid and our consumer business achieved growth. Our digital power and cloud businesses both experienced strong growth, and our new components for intelligent connected vehicles continue to gain competitiveness,” said Huawei Chairwoman Sabrina Meng. 

 

TIM’s stock up after KKR bid 

TIM’s stock was up 0.5% today after the US investment fund KKR and the Italian government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that would allow the Italian treasury to take up to a 20% stake in TIM’s NetCo following any binding offer from KKR. 

Back in June, KKR made a non-binding offer of around €23 billion for NetCo, which has since led to exclusive negotiations. 

Sources say that the deal would also see the government play a “decisive role” in “defining the strategic choices” of the business. 

 

Telesat stock jumps up 50% 

The shares of Canadian telecommunications satellite operator Telesat have jumped 50% after the firm announced it would swap suppliers for its planned Lightspeed global internet network. 

Canadian space company MDA will now build the satellites, instead of the previously agreed French-Italian manufacturer Thales Alenia Space,  resulting in total savings of around $2 billion, the company confirmed. 

“I’m incredibly proud of the Telesat team for their innovative work to further optimize … resulting in dramatically reduced costs,” said Telesat CEO Dan Goldberg in a statement. 

The company’s Q2 results have also been released this week. Revenue stood at $180 million, a year-on-year decrease of 4% 

Net income rose to $520 million, compared to a net loss of $4 million last year. Telesat attributed this to a $260 million payment from the Federal Communications Commission for clearing spectrum in the US that will now be used for 5G services.  

 

Indonesia’s Telkom revenue on the rise 

On the release of its half-year financial results published this week, Indonesia’s Telkom saw a year-on-year revenue increase of 2.1% to IDR 73.5 trillion ($4.77 billion). 

The firm cites the continued growth of mobile data and IndiHome (a home telephone, internet, and Internet Protocol television services unit) for the growth. 

Data, internet, and IT services revenues grew by 6.1% year-on-year to IDR 41.6 trillion ($2.7 billion). 

The firm ended June with net cash of IDR 25.6 trillion ($1.7 billion), down 26.7%, operating expenses in 2023. 

 

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Also in the news:
Polish operators line up for 5G spectrum auction
TDS considers ‘strategic alternatives’ for UScellular
O2 Slovakia and Slovak Telekom to share mobile networks 

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The partnership will see HCLTech become Verizon Business’s “primary Managed Network Services (MNS) collaborator”

This week, Verizon Business has announced a major partnership with Indian ICT firm HCLTech that onlookers suggest could be worth up to $2.1 billion.

The deal will combine Verizon’s networking power and solutions with HCLTech’s MNS capabilities, with HCLTech leading post-sale implementation and ongoing support for Verizon Business customers. This includes helping them incorporate new technologies like 5G, SD-WAN, and SASE into their own operations and consumer offerings.

“HCLTech is a widely recognized industry leader for Managed Network Services, and with their IT service expertise and ongoing support of our enterprise networking deployments, Verizon Business can modernize our service delivery and simultaneously heighten our focus on helping customers incorporate next-generation technology like 5G, SD-WAN and SASE into their operations and their own customer offerings,” said Kyle Malady, CEO of Verizon Business. “IT/OT convergence is the future of data-centric business operations, and with the fast-accelerating pace of digitalization, customers need a well-coordinated delivery framework to realize that future.”

As part of the deal, a number of Verizon’s Business Global Customer Operations will officially join HCLTech to oversee operations.

For Verizon, this deal is seen as a way to revitalise the sluggish results of its fixed line business, offering the company’s business customers a modernised, flexible, and ultimately more attractive delivery framework.

According to Verizon SVP Scott Lawrence, the deal will begin to “unlock value” as early as the end of this year, with grater integration expected from 2024 onwards.

Want to keep up to date with all of the latest developments in the US telecoms sector? Join the industry in discussion at Connected America 2024

Also in the news:
Polish operators line up for 5G spectrum auction
TDS considers ‘strategic alternatives’ for UScellular
O2 Slovakia and Slovak Telekom to share mobile networks 

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Cisco is set to pay Telenor $150 million for its 44.6% in the business 

This week, Cisco has signed a $150 million deal to acquire Norwegian company Working Group Two (WG2) from Telenor Group.  

Core network software specialist WG2 was spun out as a separate entity from Telenor in 2017, with the Norwegian operator retaining a significant stake in the business. At the time, additional investors included telecoms equipment specialist Cisco and digital infrastructure investor Digital Alpha.  

Now, six years later, Telenor is selling its entire 44.6% stake in the business to Cisco, which will become WG2’s sole owner. 

WG2 is a cloud-native mobile service platform provider, which offers mobile operators a cloud-based core network to increase product innovation and reduce time to market through authentication, provisioning, voice, messaging, and data services. 

According to Cisco, the acquisition will help them further develop their recently announced Mobility Services Platform. The Platform combines 5G, edge, and cloud technologies to deliver an as-a-service option for service providers, to help them build and manage new Internet of Things (IoT) networks. 

“Built for simplicity, innovation, and efficiency, WG2’s platform uses the web-scale playbook and operating models, which makes it a natural fit with our Mobility Services Platform,” said Cisco Senior Vice president Masum Mir 

“And with WG2 and the Cisco Mobility Services Platform, we’ll be able to boost our service edge deployment and API first strategy for application development partners, enterprise customers and service provider partners.”  

The acquisition is subject to standard regulatory approval and is set to close in Cisco’s first fiscal quarter of 2024. 

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Also in the news:
Polish operators line up for 5G spectrum auction
TDS considers ‘strategic alternatives’ for UScellular
O2 Slovakia and Slovak Telekom to share mobile networks 

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The government hopes to use a combination of public and private funding in order to shrink the nation’s digital divide 

According to a statement from the Polish Ministry of Digitalisation, 307 applications have been submitted for a portion of the PLN  9 billion ($2.22 billion) of funding available for national broadband projects.  

Of these, 64 are applications to cover 187 areas of Poland that the government has declared ‘white spots’ – areas that have no internet access at all. 

Alongside the EU-linked government funding, the private sector is expected to contribute at further PLN 750 million ($185.2 million) to fund the broadband projects. 

According to the Polish government, this will be on the country’s largest ever investment in broadband expansion.  

Poland launched the Operational Programme Digital Poland (POPC) in 2014, which carries out public broadband funding, and since then has covered more than 2 million households with broadband. In addition, over PLN 4 billion ($990 million) has been invested into broadband coverage for underserved communities. 

Poland’s national broadband plan, which was updated in 2020, aims to achieve broadband speeds of at least 100Mbps for everyone in the country, and at least 1Gbps for socio economic drivers such as schools and transport hubs. It also seeks to ensure 5G connectivity is available on all major communication routes and in major urban areas. 

In tandem with the POPC, the country has launched for the Nationwide Education Network, which aims at providing all schools in Poland (about 19,500 locations) with free internet with speeds of at least 100 Mbps. 

Want to keep up to date with all the latest news from the international telecoms sector? Click here to receive Total Telecom’s daily newsletter direct to your inbox  

Also in the news:
Polish operators line up for 5G spectrum auction
TDS considers ‘strategic alternatives’ for UScellular
O2 Slovakia and Slovak Telekom to share mobile networks 

The industry-led One Touch Switching Company (TOTSCo), which has the arduous task of implementing Ofcom’s significantly delayed One Touch Switch (OTS) migration system for broadband ISPs, has today revealed that it is working toward a planned go-live date of Thursday 14th March 2024 – nearly a full year late. In case anybody has forgotten. In […]

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The government could take a stake of up to 20% in Telecom Italia (TIM)’s NetCo

US investment fund KKR and the Italian government have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that would allow the Italian treasury to take up to a 20% stake in TIM’s NetCo following any binding offer from KKR.

According to sources, the deal would also see the government play a “decisive role” in “defining the strategic choices” of the business.

TIM has been planning to spin off its network unit since late 2021, following a plan devised by new CEO Pietro Labriola. Spinning off this NetCo, which includes the company’s fixed network assets as well as the company’s international carrier business Sparkle, immediately drew interest from numerous investors, including US investment firm KKR.

KKR is believed to have made a nonbinding offer of approximately €23 billion for NetCo back in June, leading TIM to enter into exclusive negotiations with the American firm.

Nonetheless, the sale remains contentious, with the government having repeatedly indicated they desire a role in NetCo’s future, likely via state investor Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, considering TIM’s networks to be critical national infrastructure.

According to sources, local infrastructure fund F2I is also set to invest in NetCo, which would potentially bring the government’s stake in TIM’s networks unit up to 30%.

In addition, TIM’s key investor Vivendi has said that the current offer from KKR greatly undervalues the assets in question, arguing that the infrastructure unit is worth closer to €30 billion.

Want to keep up to date with all of the latest international telecoms news? Sign up for Total Telecom’s daily newsletter

Also in the news:
Telefónica sells majority share of Peruvian fibre network to KKR
Airtel Uganda to sell 20% stake via IPO
Founding CEO Michael Joseph leaves Safaricom after 20 years

UK ISP Sky Broadband has discounted two of their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) powered “Ultrafast” (145Mbps) and “Gigafast” (900Mbps) packages, which drops the price on an 18-month term to just £31 and £49.50 a month respectively (returning to £43 and £63 after the first contract term). A small £5 setup fee is also charged. Sky’s packages are […]

Shropshire-based UK ISP and alternative broadband provider Exascale has today provided ISPreview with an update on the latest locations to benefit from their rollout of a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network in the West Midlands. The provider has also changed the Optical Network Terminals (ONT) they use. Just to recap. Exascale is a smaller […]

Broadband ISP 1310 (“thirteen-ten“), which offers full fibre services via Openreach’s national network and is also building its own FTTP network across parts of Hampshire (England), has this morning announced that they’ve acquired UK communications provider TxRx Communications Ltd to accelerate growth and broaden their services. Established in 2018 by Simon Green, James Rossell, and […]