Fibre optic builder and ISP B4RN (Broadband for the Rural North), which since 2011 have been working with community volunteers to roll out a 10Gbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across rural parts of England, has confirmed that they will upgrade their core network to 400G in order to make it future-proof through 2030. The provider, […]

Broadband ISP and network operator Brsk, which has so far built their gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to cover 200,000 UK premises (rollout plan), has today announced that their West Midlands (England) focused deployment has been extended into South Birmingham. The operator, which last year secured a huge funding boost of “up to” £178 million […]

Customers of EE‘s mobile and home broadband ISP packages may like to know that the UK network operator has now joined forces with NVIDIA to launch a new range of “great value cloud gaming offerings“, which include membership of the ‘GeForce NOW’ cloud gaming service (access to over 1,600 games). Prices of the new bundles […]

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The South African operator has rejected a takeover offer from the Public Investment Corporation, a consortium led by former CEO Sipho Maseko

This week, struggling South African telco Telkom has announced it has rejected yet another takeover offer, this time from a consortium led by the company’s previous boss, Sipho Maseko.

The Public Investment Corporation consortium, comprising Axian Telecom, Afrifund Investments Proprietary, and the Government Employees Pension Fund, approached Telkom with an unsolicited offer last month.

Financial details of the offer were not revealed, though reports suggested the company was seeking a majority stake in the operator.

According to a stock exchange filing, Telkom’s board considered the offer at length, including asking the consortium to provide additional clarity around certain elements of their offer, before ultimately rejecting the bid.

The news saw Telkom’s share price fall by 7%.

That this bid was rejected by Telkom should not come as too great a surprise. Commenting on the unsolicited bid at the company’s latest financial results presentation last month, current Telkom CEO Serame Taukobong said that “we do not need a knight in shining armour, be it my former employee or my former employer”.

He added that takeover proposals would not be considered “until somebody comes to our [board] chair with a strong letter and also proof that they can deliver”.

Telkom’s shares have fallen roughly 40% in the last 18 months, with the company struggling under the weight of high inflation and the most severe energy crisis facing South Africa for many years.

As a result, the company has been considering numerous tie-ups with its local rivals over the past year, having held discussions to with both MTN and Rain to combine their operator businesses. Ultimately, however, all of these discussions have fallen through before formal offers were made.

Want to keep up with all of the latest hot topics in the telecoms industry? Join the operators in discussion at this year’s Total Telecom Congress in Amsterdam

Also in the news:
Netomnia passes half a million premises with full fibre
Telefónica sells majority share of Peruvian fibre network to KKR
5G NTN-mobile market revenue to hit $18bn by 2031

A new study by Uswitch, which adopted a Flesch–Kincaid readability test to examine the Terms & Conditions (T&Cs) of all the major UK broadband ISPs, has concluded that Sky Broadband’s terms are the “trickiest” for customers to understand. On the other hand, Plusnet’s terms were found to be the “most straightforward“. In an ideal world, […]

After years of development, the new Visible Light Communication (VLC) based networking method – called LiFi (Light Fidelity) – now has an official global standard after the release of IEEE 802.11bb, which is based off the hugely successful WiFi standard and should help with commercialising related devices. The idea of using light as a communication […]

Radio astronomers have raised concerns after a new study revealed that SpaceX’s global network of Starlink broadband satellites, which form part of a mega constellation in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), were found to be leaking “unintended” electromagnetic radiation that overlaps with the protected radio frequencies used for astronomical observations. At present Starlink has 4,430 LEO […]

Cisco-backed global delivery network Qwilt has today signed an extended partnership with Vodafone, which will see them deploy a new Content Delivery Network (CDN) to increase the quality and capacity of the operator’s streaming delivery to its mobile and broadband ISP customers across Europe (inc. UK) and Africa. Content delivery networks typically function by moving […]

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The trial will see Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica and Vodafone test the EU’s digital identity wallets during SIM activation, in anticipation of broader usage 

This week, Germany’s three mobile network operators have announced their participation in a new EU trial seeking to further the development of mobile wallets for digital identities. 

The scheme is being carried out by the EU consortium ‘POTENTIAL’, the largest of four consortia currently operating pilot programmes aiming to provide each EU citizen with control over their online data through a secure digital identity, which can be used throughout the bloc. 

The consortium’s 148 partners are trialing various digital ID projects in 19 countries, including using the IDs for opening bank accounts and obtaining digital drivers licenses. Testing for online citizen services and electronic signatures are reportedly ongoing. 

For the trio of mobile network operators involved, their own pilot project will involve enabling consumers to use their digital IDs to activate SIM cards. This, they say, will both serve as a proof of concept and theoretically help to reduce digital identity fraud. 

The testing will take place in Germany, France, Austria, Poland, Netherlands, Greece, and Ukraine. 

The current methods of online self-identification are often criticised for being too costly and insecure. As a result, the EU is beginning to introduce new technical conditions to ensure digital identities are secure based on new Electronic Identification and Trust Services (eIDAS) regulations which recently came into effect. 

“Every time a website asks us to create a new digital identity or conveniently log in via a large platform, we actually have no idea what is happening with our data. This is why the Commission will soon propose a secure European digital identity. One that we trust, and that citizens everywhere in Europe can use to do everything from pay taxes to rent a bike. A technology with which we ourselves can control what data is used and how,” said Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. 

“A digital identity can only bring value when people actually use it. And they will do so when they can trust the application and it is made easy to use. This is what we are supporting with our participation in the EU project ‘POTENTIAL’. So that digitalisation becomes accessible everywhere and for everyone. Whether at home, on vacation or on business trips,” added Michael Jungwirth, Director Public Policy & External Affairs at Vodafone Germany. 

‘POTENTIAL’ is expected to report on the results of the various trials in September, which will then be used to develop a roadmap to see the digital IDs rolled out throughout the EU by 2025.  

Join in the conversation about digital security at this year’s Total Telecom Congress live from Amsterdam 

Also in the news:
Nokia and Proximus team up for Europe’s first hybrid quantum encryption key trial
EU fines Meta €1.2bn over transfer of data to US
Samsung bans staff from using generative AI after data leak 

 

 

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The Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) says its analysis of the broadband market found it to be competitive with no dominant players

Having concluded a lengthy investigation into the Dutch broadband market, this week the ACM has ruled that it will leave the wholesale broadband market unregulated.

The regulator’s investigation, which began in mid-2020, segregated the country into five geographical regions, based on these areas’ access to wholesale networks delivered by incumbent operator KPN and by Glaspoort, KPN’s fibre network joint venture with pension fund APG.

Currently, KPN and Glaspoort are the only two network operators to offer wholesale access to their network and do so on a voluntary basis.

In each of these five regions, the ACM sought to ascertain whether there was currently a dominant market player or whether one would emerge in the next five years based on retail market data.

The results suggested that market competition was healthy in each of the regions and that open access networks should expand to cover the entirety of the country within three years, ensuring a competitive future.

As such, the regulator said that no intervention would be necessary.

The ACM also ruled against Dutch ISP YouCa, which was separately seeking access to VodafoneZiggo’s network on a wholesale basis.

The preliminary decision is open for public comment until 4 September and will require approval from the European Commission.

The question as to whether the Dutch wholesale market should be regulated or not dates back to 2018, when the regulator announced its intention to impose itself on the market for the first time.

Until that point, only the incumbent operator KPN was offering its fixed broadband network to alternative ISPs on a wholesale basis. However, the ACM argued that VodafoneZiggo had grown to enjoy a comparably dominant market position to KPN and therefore should also open up its network to other providers.

Both VodafoneZiggo and KPN complained about the decision, arguing that the highly competitive Dutch market was functioning perfectly well without regulatory intervention.

The duo subsequently appealed against the ACM’s ruling, with a corporate appeals court finally overturning the regulator’s decision in 2020. The court’s ruling was largely based on the fact that the joint dominance of KPN and VodafoneZiggo had not been sufficiently established by the ACM in their market analysis.

How is the wholesale landscape changing in 2023? Join the operators in discussion at this year’s Total Telecom Congress in Amsterdam

Also in the news:
Netomnia passes half a million premises with full fibre
Telefónica sells majority share of Peruvian fibre network to KKR
5G NTN-mobile market revenue to hit $18bn by 2031