The first retail broadband ISPs have begun to give their reactions to Virgin Media’s recent change of strategy (here), which will see them open up their existing fixed line network to wholesale via a new business (NetCo). Most internet providers have welcomed the move, but some are sceptical of NetCo’s ability to match Openreach (BT). […]

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The deal is expected to begin around 2026 

Bouygues Telecom, the telecoms unit of French conglomerate Bouygues, has announced that it has signed an exclusivity agreement with La Poste Group, to purchase La Poste Telecom for €950 million.  

This total is set to be adjusted according to the timing of the transaction itself, with current estimates sitting at approximately €963.4 million. 

Mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) La Poste Telecom is currently 51% owned by La Poste Group, with the remainder (49%) owned by Bouygues rival French telco SFR. 

Bouygues will buy 100% of the company. 

La Poste Telecom currently serves 2.3 million customers, generating roughly €300 million in annual sales, via a wholesale agreement with SFR. This agreement is set to expire at the end of 2026, at which points the La Poste Telecom customers will be migrated to Bouygues own mobile network. 

According to Bouygues, while this will entail integration costs, it will not require the deployment of additional network capacity. 

Bouygues Telecom currently has over 23 million mobile customers, which the company expects to grow as a result of the new deal by leveraging La Poste’s distribution network and benefitting from a brand that is strong and recognised for its values of “trust and proximity.”  

“Thanks to this agreement, Bouygues Telecom will be able to increase its customer base and strengthen its position in both mobile and fixed services drawing on La Poste’s distribution network throughout the country,” said Benoît Torloting, CEO of Bouygues Telecom in a press release. 

“Bouygues Telecom will bring its expertise and the quality of its fixed and mobile infrastructures to La Poste Mobile, on which La Poste Mobile will be able to draw to continue its development,” he continued. 

The transaction is subject to standard regulatory approval, and is expected to close by the end of the year. 

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Press Release

Verizon Business and Audi AG today announced a partnership to build a state-of-the-art private wireless network and tech-testing environment at Audi’s automotive test track in Neustadt, Germany. The dynamic, multi-core wireless network is designed to duplicate network conditions in key markets around the world, with custom-built replicas of Verizon’s U.S. public network, local European networks, and the roaming network of Audi’s MVNO partner in Asia-Pacific. Audi and other brands from the Volkswagen Group have access to the track and network.

As the automotive industry continues its evolution toward software-defined vehicles, the geographic flexibility of the Neustadt test-track network gives Audi a competitive advantage in the global market by streamlining its multi-territory R&D test cycle, better replicating driver/passenger experiences around the world, and providing access to the latest network and application technology. Testable applications include voice, video, safety, autonomous mobility, vehicle-to-cloud communication, OEM-customer interactions, cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) features and functionalities, and more.

To achieve this blend of geographic flexibility and technological capability, Verizon Business tapped into a robust ecosystem of partners. The network uses a dual 5G and LTE Modular Private Wireless platform from Nokia, C-V2X and private MEC infrastructure utilizing AWS Outposts from Amazon Web Services, and real-time video and data-transmission technology from Smart Mobile Labs (stream management and distribution, full HD streaming, push to talk, push to video, stream recording, et. al.).

“Our needs for this test track were complex and multi-dimensional, encompassing many technologies, geographic network conditions, and industry trends. Verizon Business was able to provide a complete solution that will take time and cost out of the testing cycle and give us a competitive advantage in the global marketplace,” said Petr Kozak, Head of Development Infotainment, Connectivity, Data Management and Artificial Intelligence, Audi AG.

“This is about much more than equipping a work site with a private network. This is about bringing network conditions from around the world to one test facility, allowing Audi to exceed the already lofty demands of the mobility market looking years into the future,” said TJ Fox, SVP of IIoT and Automotive, Verizon Business. “Increasingly, vehicles are not just about transportation, but a means of communication, entertainment, education, and work — effectively, rolling cell phones and high-powered computers. That means the vehicle of the future will be packed with technology that needs to work under many different sets of network conditions, and Audi and Verizon Business are solving for those needs with this state-of-the-art facility.”

Verizon Business has end-to-end responsibility for the delivery and support of the high-performance, stable and secure private LTE/5G network, which can be adapted to the developments of the 3GPP standard over time.

Want to keep up to date with all of the latest developments in the German telecoms market? Join the industry in discussion at Connected Germany live in Munich

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News

The growth of Dish’s 5G coverage masks the company’s ongoing struggles, including customer acquisition, leadership stability, and $26 billion in debt

This week, Dish Network has confirmed that 5G voice services are now available to over 200 million American’s nationwide, with the company hailing the achievement as another step towards becoming the bona fide fourth national mobile operator.

Dish has so far spent around $6 billion on expanding its 5G network across the US since 2019, seeking to catch up with the enormous scale of the country’s dominant mobile trio: AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile.

“At DISH, we firmly believe in the transformative power of communication, and as the 4th nationwide wireless network, we are bringing competition to the wireless industry and more choice to U.S. consumers,” said John Swieringa, president of Technology and COO, EchoStar. “We are proud to now offer 5G voice to over 200 million Americans nationwide, as we continue to expand, optimize, meet milestones and advance the Boost Wireless Network buildout in alignment with our network development plan.”

It should be noted, however, that of more than 200 million potential customers, Dish is currently serving only 7.5 million. In fact, this number is down around 1.5 million from the 9 million customers the business inherited from its purchase of Sprint’s wireless business Boost Mobile back in 2020 as part of the Sprint–T-Mobile merger.

In fact, this news of network expansion actually comes at quite a troubling time for the company, which is facing major challenges not only with customer acquisition and retention, but with debt financing and even leadership.

Dish’s wireless retail chief, Michael Kelly, notably resigned at short notice earlier this week, having been in the role less than a year. He is the latest in a number of executives to jump ship, including Stephen Bye (chief commercial officer), Dave Mayo (chief technology officer), and Jonathan Sipling (chief marketing officer), all of whom left since the start of 2023.

With no clear path to profitable growth for Dish, the company owner Charlie Ergen made the move to recombine Dish with its parent company EchoStar at the start of this year, with Ergen suggesting the move would “generate significant cost and revenue synergies”. Onlookers, however, felt that the merger was more likely related to mitigating the impact of looming maturities on Dish’s $26 billion debt pile.

In conclusion, while Dish’s 5G network continues to grow steadily, its ambitions of becoming a fully-fledged fourth national mobile operator are beginning to look overly optimistic.

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

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O2 (Virgin Media / VMO2) has today become the second major UK mobile operator, after Vodafone, to switch-on a commercial 5G Standalone (SA) network in the UK, which will deliver faster mobile broadband speeds (inc. latency) and more service flexibility. The service has initially gone live in parts of 14 cities and comes at “no […]

Mobile operator and UK ISP EE (BT) has today given a first sneak peek of their next generation Qualcomm-powered and Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be – Extremely High Throughput) capable home broadband router, which was first hinted at in 2023 (here) and is set to launch sometime this year (possibly by around mid-2024). In case anybody has […]

The LCR Connect network, which is a £32m joint venture that has rolled out a new 214km long full-fibre (broadband and Ethernet) network across much of the Liverpool City Region, has today become fully operational and made multi-gigabit speed internet connections available to more than 28,000 businesses. Construction of the new “resilient fibre backhaul” network, […]

A new internet provider and alternative network builder called Brighton Fibre, which spent most of 2023 operating at a small scale in stealth mode, has finally decided to go public with more information about the new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network that they’re deploying in East Sussex. Much as the name might suggest, Brighton Fibre […]

Network operator nexfibre, which shares the same parentage as Virgin Media (VMO2), has this morning published a new quarterly (Q1 2024) progress update on their work to deploy a new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP / XGS-PON) broadband ISP network across up to 7 million UK premises. Just to recap. Telefónica, Liberty Global and InfraVia Capital […]

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The rollout will allow for widescale efficiency and cost-savings in a variety of industries 

This week, BT has announced the launch of its new Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) network to aid its development of UK smart cities. 

The network, which according to BT covers 97% of the population, is underpinned by EE’s mobile network and will allow for widescale IoT use across various industries, such as agriculture and manufacturing. 

A NB-IoT network is a type of low power wide area network specifically designed to connect low power IoT devices, such as streetlights, sensors, or meters. According to BT, this will allow IoT devices to be managed automatically over a smart network, enabling, for example, broken streetlights to be automatically identified, thereby increasing energy efficiency and reducing costs.  

BT says that the new network will enable it to “fast-track” smart cities’s development, enabling new use cases focussed on monitoring and optimising energy use, storage, or distribution. 

“Growing numbers of businesses are beginning to realise the benefits of IoT applications, and our UK-wide NB-IoT network opens up a wide range of connectivity solutions for monitors, sensors, and other smart devices,” said Chris Keone, BT’s MD of Division X in a press release.  

“Whether it’s building the smart cities of the future or reducing carbon emissions, our network will provide customers with the reliability and efficiency they need,” he continued. 

This NB-IoT network will not only find use in urban settings. In fact, BT is already trialling the technology for the agricultural industry, using sensors to monitor haystack temperature and prevent fire risks, and safekeeping of livestock through gate sensors. 

Catch BT at this year’s Connected North, 22-23 April in Manchester – book your tickets now! 

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From humble beginnings: The amazing journey of Hormuud Telecom CEO Ahmed Mohamud Yusuf