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The two operators say the network sharing deal will help prevent overbuild and accelerate their respective rollouts of 5G

Two of Slovakia’s biggest mobile operators have this week finalised a long-awaited network sharing deal, which will O2 Slovakia and Slovak Telekom share mobile infrastructure across the country.

The duo say the deal will help them to boost service quality for customers and reduce rollout costs, particularly with regards to their expanding 5G networks.

The capital city Bratislava and second-largest city Košice are notably exclude from the arrangement, with both operators maintaining their individual networks in these areas.

“Faster deployment of innovations, better signal quality, saving costs and the environment are just some of the benefits that sharing networks will bring. The improvement of customer experience with operators’ networks will also result, for example, from an increase in the common number of base stations, an increase in network capacity, and at the same time, coverage will improve,” said the operators in a joint statement.

Network sharing will begin gradually over the coming months, with process not expected to be fully complete for two or three years.

Both operators stress that the deal will not reduce market competition, with both operators continuing to compete on mobile services.

“As one of the leaders in covering Slovakia with high-speed connections, we will develop mobile networks even faster than before and bring new technologies to areas where it would have taken longer in the past,” said O2 CEO Igor Tóth.

“At the same time, this agreement will not affect our mutual competition and we will continue to compete for the favour of customers with our unique portfolio of products and services and the quality of customer care,” he added.

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Also in the news:
Comcast talks building a self-healing network at Connected America
1&1 foregoes Telefónica for Vodafone in 5G roaming deal
Is the UK losing the 5G rollout race? 

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

Three UK publishes half year results 

In the company’s half-year results, Three saw revenue increase by 4% to £1.23bn due to an increase in the active customer base.  

Net customer service revenue went up 8% to £816 million, up from £754 million last year. 

Profit margins increased by 9%, which Three put down to the development of new business areas, such as the success of its SIM-only brand SMARTY and 5G Home Broadband.  

Operating expenses increased by 19%, largely because of inflationary pressures. These increased costs have exceeded margin growth, says Three, so EBITDA decreased by19% to £163 million. 

“We have successfully grown the business in the first half of the financial year and I’m proud that we have added to the customer base and delivered an increase in margin,” said Robert Finnegan, CEO of Three UK and Ireland. 

“While the ongoing rollout of 5G is a success, we have been clear that we are now at an inflection point. As strong connectivity continues to be critical to how we live and work, we’re planning for the future. Our EBITDA continues to be below our capital expenditure, which is unsustainable going forward.” 

Telecom Italia sees profit rise 

In its second quarter, Telecom Italia (TIM) has reported a 5.5% rise in profits, and a 0.6% rise in domestic revenue for the first time in five years, which reached to €2.9 billion The rise was mainly attributed to the company’s strong performance in the Brazilian market, recording an increase in service revenue of 9.5% to €1.1 billion. 

Ruthless pricing competition in the Italian market has seen the operator’s earnings erode over the last ten years, ultimately leaving TIM burdened with debt over €26.1 billion. In an effort to combat this, TIM is currently seeking to spin off and sell its landline grid, with current bids standing at around €20 billion. 

“The delayering plan for the sale of NetCo is progressing as planned after the decision made by TIM’s Board of Directors last June 22 to start exclusive negotiations with KKR, necessary activities to receive a conclusive binding offer by September 30 are ongoing,” said the company in a statement. 

BT’s price rises boost revenue 

BT Group has reported adjusted revenue of £5.16 billion for its fiscal first quarter, up 4% from £4.97 billion a year earlier. 

The Consumer division saw adjusted revenue rise 3% to £2.42 billion in Q1 and business revenue was up 3% to £2.03 billion. Openreach revenue rose 8% to £1.53 billion, and its adjusted EBITDA increased by 12% to £965 million. 

“We’ve made a strong start to the year, in what remains a very competitive market, with improved customer satisfaction, pro forma revenue growth in all of our business units and pro forma group EBITDA up by 5%,” said CEO Phillip Jansen  

Along with many other providers, BT increased its prices by 14.4% earlier this year. 

Bharti Airtel releases quarterly results 

Indian Telco Bharti Airtel has released its financial results for the April–June quarter, seeing a 14.1% year-on-year revenue increase to Rs374.4 billion ($4.5 billion) 

After accounting for the loss of $156 million, primarily due to currency devaluation in Nigeria, the net income for the quarter was $195 million, up 0.3% on last year. 

Airtel’s customer base reached 528.97 million at the end of the quarter, up from 495.19 million a year earlier. 

“We have delivered yet another quarter of strong and competitive growth across all our businesses. Our consolidated revenue grew sequentially by 4.0 percent, and EBITDA margin expanded to 52.7%, underscoring the simplicity and execution of our strategy,” said Managing Director Gopal Vittal. 

“Our focus on winning quality customers and driving premiumization has helped us add 5.6 million new 4G customers and the highest ever postpaid customers in any one quarter.” 

Qualcomm earnings take a tumble 

Citing reduced consumer spending due to slow economic growth, US chip producer Qualcomm has seen a steep decline in both revenue and profits. Sales amounted to $8.45 billion in the three months to June, a decrease of 23% on last year. 

Projections for the current quarter are equally unfavourable. Sales are expected to be $8.1–9 billion, down from $11.4 billion last year. 

After the release of the report, Qualcommm’s share price dropped by over 9.5%. 

“While we are in the process of developing our plans, we currently expect these actions to consist largely of workforce reductions, and in connection with any such actions we would expect to incur significant additional restructuring charge,” the company noted. 

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:
Comcast talks building a self-healing network at Connected America
1&1 foregoes Telefónica for Vodafone in 5G roaming deal
Is the UK losing the 5G rollout race? 

Press Release

Global 5G leader Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) has increased its socioeconomic contribution to Malaysia by producing its state-of-the-art 5G radio equipment in Penang – the company’s first 5G manufacturing facility in Southeast Asia.

Ericsson has been in Malaysia since 1965 and is rolling out the 5G network for Malaysia, which has already been recognised globally for its performance.

The production was inaugurated by Communications and Digital Minister YB Ahmad Fahmi bin Mohamed Fadzil (who was represented by Deputy Minister YB Teo Nie Ching), Penang Caretaker Chief Minister Tuan Chow Kon Yeow, and Swedish Ambassador to Malaysia, His Excellency Dr Joachim Bergstrom.

The 5G radio equipment being produced in Malaysia includes Ericsson’s industry-leading lightweight and energy-efficient Massive MIMO antenna-integrated radios and is produced in Prai in the northern state of Penang, in partnership with Flex, a global diversified manufacturer that operates across 30 countries.

David Hägerbro, Head of Ericsson Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh says: “Ericsson is a world leader in 5G technology, currently powering 147 live networks across 63 countries, including Malaysia. The production of Ericsson’s global 5G radio equipment in Malaysia is our additional socioeconomic contribution to the country and marks the latest in a broad range of initiatives to bring our global experiences, expertise, and insights to Malaysia in support of the government’s ambition to be a digital leader.”

“Malaysia is an important market for Ericsson and domestic manufacturing in Malaysia will contribute to the local economy through employment and the transfer of technical knowledge to the local workforce in areas such as manufacturing, product engineering and equipment testing”, adds Hägerbro.

The resulting technology leadership has seen Ericsson recently topping the Frost Radar: Global 5G Network Infrastructure Market ranking for the third year in a row. It was also named a Leader in the 2023 Magic Quadrant for 5G Network Infrastructure for Communications Service Providers report by Gartner, also the third year in a row that Ericsson has earned this recognition from the independent research and advisory firm.

In addition to delivering a world-class 5G network, the selection of Malaysia for manufacturing also increases Ericsson’s socio-economic contribution to the country. Malaysia already hosts a Global Maintenance Center in Bukit Jelutong, which is one of the largest in the world, a Regional Distribution Centre at KLIA’s Free Trade Zone. It is also the base for a Regional Competence Hub that hosts 5G expertise and regional support functions, as well as promotes local talent globally.

Hägerbro says that Ericsson will continue to deliver a secure, affordable, world-class 5G network and customer experience for Malaysia.

Malaysia has already become a recognized global leader in 5G connectivity with reports stating that Malaysia has achieved outstanding results in implementing and delivering a great 5G experience for consumers as well as the 5G network delivering excellent speed and reliability, outperforming many industrialized nations.

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:
Comcast talks building a self-healing network at Connected America
1&1 foregoes Telefónica for Vodafone in 5G roaming deal
Is the UK losing the 5G rollout race? 

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The telco is the first company to announce domestic production of fibre products for use in the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) programme 

This week, Nokia has announced that it will partner with manufacturing firm Sanmina Corporation to produce fibre optic network equipment at the latter’s factory in Wisconsin for use in the BEAD program. 

The BEAD programme, launched in November 2021 as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, dedicates more than $42 billion to expand high-speed internet access to everyone in America, with the aim to “get everyone online”. The scheme will fund the planning and building of the infrastructure needed to increase the adoption of high-speed internet. 

The money was allocated in June on a state-by-state basis, with each state receiving a minimum of $100 million and offshore territories a $25 million minimum. Some states, such as Texas and California have secured much more, being allocated $3.3 billion and $1.86 billion, respectively. Nineteen US states are set to receive more than $1 billion. 

States must now each submit a five-year plan to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), outlining how they will use their funding to close the digital divide in their respective regions. 

Naturally, this is a huge opportunity for fibre network equipment makers, but there is a catch: the “Build America, Buy America” Act, which requires public funding to only be spent on American-made products. The NTIA is stringent in their imposition of this, in order to maximise the economic potential of the scheme for the country. 

Thus, for Nokia to capture even a fraction of this BEAD funding, it will require manufacturing capabilities in the US itself, hence the new partnership with Sanmina. 

Products to be manufactured at that the Sanmina plant include an Optical Line Termination (OLT) card for a modular Access Node, a small form factor OLT, OLT optical modules, and an outdoor-hardened Optical Network Terminal (ONT). 

“By continuing to invest in domestic manufacturing, Nokia and Sanmina will be able to help create a sustainable future for the industry, one that drives job growth and ensures the fibre products produced embody the quality and excellence associated with American manufacturing,” added Sanmina CEO Jure Sola. 

“By bringing the manufacturing of our fibre-optic broadband access products to the US, BEAD participants will be able to work with us to bridge the digital divide. We look forward to bringing more Americans online,” said Nokia in a statement. 

Manufacturing the equipment will begin next year, and Nokia claims the project will create 200 new jobs.  

How is the US broadband market evolving? Join the operators in discussion at next year’s Connected America conference live in Dallas, Texas 

Also in the news:
Comcast talks building a self-healing network at Connected America
1&1 foregoes Telefónica for Vodafone in 5G roaming deal
Is the UK losing the 5G rollout race? 

The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 kicked off last month and UK ISP EE (BT) reports that the three matches involving England’s squad have caused a modest, but noticeable, increase in broadband data traffic, rising by between 7-8% compared to an “average” day. Typically, matches that take place outside a traditional holiday period and during […]

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The scheme would be one of the UK’s largest investments to-date in the satellite communications industry 

The UK government is working on a scheme to fund the development of satellite communications in Britain. Named the Connectivity in Low Earth Orbit (CLEO) scheme, the programme’s aim is to provide support to researchers and businesses in the satellite communications sector, aiming to propel the development of new satellite constellations. 

Michelle Donelan, Science and Technology Secretary, said the government is exploring an initial grant of £100 million, and an additional £60 million from the Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) programme from the European Space Agency (ESA). 

Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations are more resilient than ground-based infrastructure, and when complete, can potentially provide total global coverage. The advancement of such LEO technology is vital to bring strong connectivity to the most rural parts of the country, and achieving this will help to close the current digital divide in the UK, according to the UK government. 

The fund will aid the creation of many skilled jobs, boost the economy, and fuel the National Space Council’s aim of making the UK a ‘true space superpower.’ 

“Tackling the digital divide is at the heart of empowering our citizens wherever they live, and by investing in the vital research and development that CLEO would facilitate, we can level up our country while growing the economy through high-quality jobs,” commented Donelan.  

“Today’s announcement is a vital step towards the delivery of a key priority of the UK Space Agency – to maximise the potential of low Earth orbit and become a global leader in next generation satellite communications technologies by building our ability to service future high-volume constellations” said Harshbir Sangha, Missions and Capabilities Delivery Director at the UK Space Agency. 

The launch of the scheme will be dependent on standard approval procedures, and further information will be provided to the public in a UK Space Agency webinar on 10th August. 

Interested in keeping up with the conversation around the UK’s satellite communications? Join us at this years’ Connected Britain event 

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e& seeking to boost Vodafone stake to 20%
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