News

Armando Pereira, co-founder and former COO of Altice, was arrested late last week as part of a sweeping investigation into corruption, tax fraud, and money laundering

Armando Pereira, Portugal’s richest man and co-founder of the country’s largest telecoms operator Altice, was on Thursday detained for questioning by police as part of a major investigation into corporate corruption.

The ex-COO of Altice was one of three people detained in a widespread operation by Central Department of Investigation and Penal Action (DCIAP) that saw around 90 homes and premises searched and around €20 million of property seized.

The raids were the culmination of a three-year investigation by the DCIAP that alleges procurement decisions taken at Altice under Pereira’s oversight were done so in a way that was “harmful to the companies of that group and to the competition”, according to a statement from the DCIAP.

The investigators also claim that individuals and entities outside Altice Group are being examined for evidence of tax fraud worth over €100 million, as well as money laundering facilitated by the company’s corporate structure.

Altice says that it is complying with the probe and “providing all the cooperation requested”.

The company’s Portuguese offers were reportedly among those searched by law enforcement.

Following the raids, the CEO and chairman of Altice’s Portuguese and US businesses, Alexandre Fonseca, temporarily suspended himself from all executive and non-executive duties in the company.

“With this decision, Alexandre Fonseca is looking to fully protect and safeguard the Altice Group’s best interests and all its brands, in an ongoing public process, where allegedly, there are facts under investigation which occurred in the timeframe where he was the CEO of Altice Portugal,” said the company in a statement. “This posture from Alexandre Fonseca comes as responsible on the path to clarification of the truth.”

Fonseca also resigned from the board of Altice USA over the weekend.

Altice USA itself has said that it has launched its own independent investigation following the arrests, including placing their chief procurement officer, Yossi Benchetrit, on leave.

“Altice USA is an independent, U.S.-based company, and, in response to the circumstances in Portugal, we immediately launched an internal investigation. While we conduct this investigation, our chief procurement officer has been placed on leave to ensure the company retains its focus on its operations and serving customers,” said an Altice USA spokesperson.

Pereira founded Altice alongside Patrick Drahi and Bruno Moineville in 2002.

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

Also in the news:
EU and Japan sign deals for subsea cables and semiconductors
Home Office lambasted over Emergency Services Network delays
Ofcom probes VMO2 as customers complain about contract cancellation

London-focused ISP and broadband network builder G.Network, which until today had been investing around £1bn to roll-out a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP / XGS-PON) network in the city, has today announced that they’ve secured a funding boost of up to £150m from principal investor USS. The operator, which last year claimed to have already covered 400,000 […]

The UK Government’s controversial new Online Safety Bill is facing more criticism today after Dan Squires KC and Emma Foubister of Matrix Chambers issued a legal opinion on its “prior restraint” clause. This suggests that there is “likely to be significant interference with freedom of expression that is unforeseeable and which is thus not prescribed […]

Mobile network operator and broadband ISP Vodafone UK has today added a second social broadband tariff for those on state benefits (e.g. Universal Credit), which is called ‘Fibre 2 Essentials‘ and costs a bit more than their existing ‘Essentials Broadband‘ plan, but will give you faster speeds of up to 73Mbps. Just to recap. Vodafone’s […]

Hull-based network builder and broadband ISP KCOM, which is currently busy expanding their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network to more of East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (England), has this week selected Ricoh UK to help deliver their £17m copper to fibre phone network switchover. The operator’s full fibre network already covers c. 300,000 premises, which includes around […]

News

The group will meet today with PM Rishi Sunak to discuss the state of the UK economy and explore options for boosting the economy

Today, the UK government has unveiled fourteen chief executives that will form a new business council set to advise the Prime Minister on economic policy.

The group comprises the CEOs of AstraZeneca, NatWest Group, BAE, SSE, Google DeepMind, Sainsbury’s, Vodafone, GSK, Aviva, Shell, Sage, Taylor Wimpey, Diageo, and Barclays.

Together, they represent many of the UK’s largest industries, including banking, pharmaceuticals, retail, construction, energy, tech, insurance, telecoms, and defence.

Unsurprisingly, these companies are also some of the UK’s most valuable; nine of the companies represented are in the UK’s top 30 listed businesses, with only the relative newcomer, AI specialist Google DeepMind, not being featured on the FTSE 100.

Combined, the fourteen companies reportedly employ around 330,000 people in the UK.

“I look forward to hearing first-hand from business leaders about how we can break down the barriers they face and unlock new opportunities for them to thrive,” said PM Rishi Sunak. “The more businesses innovate and invest, the more we grow and create good jobs across the country.”

The business council will reportedly convene twice a year and will be refreshed at the end of 2023.

Today’s meeting will reportedly focus on the economic climate, inflation, skill shortages, and the ongoing impacts of Brexit.

As far as all this relates to the telecoms sector, the inclusion of new CEO of Vodafone Group, Margherita Della Valle, is noteworthy.

Della Valle was made permanent CEO of Vodafone back in April, having held the position on an interim basis since the end of 2022. Since the resignation of previous CEO Nick Read at the end of last year, she has been outlining plans to turn around the company’s dwindling fortunes, declaring its most recent financial results “not good enough”.

The company currently has plans to cut around 11,000 jobs across Europe over the next three years, including a significant number at the company’s UK headquarters, as well as streamlining operations across its portfolio.

Perhaps most notably, the company is in the process of merging its UK operations with those of CK Hutchison’s Three UK. The £15 billion deal would create a telecoms powerhouse with the scale to threaten the hegemony of BT, potentially making Vodafone the most powerful player in the UK market.

The deal is still awaiting the results of regulatory scrutiny.

“I am pleased to be joining the Business Council, an important forum to promote and support the global competitiveness of the UK. We have a vital part to play in the UK’s future, as our national communications infrastructure can help drive innovation and economic growth,” said Della Valle.

Aside from Vodafone, the other natural fit for a telecoms representative on this council would be Philip Jansen, the CEO of BT. As head of the largest UK telco, as well as one of the country’s largest employers in the country, Jansen would seem ideally placed to help steer the PM on the UK economy’s digitalisation.

However, just last week it was announced that Jansen is seeking to step down from the role of CEO over the next year, with analysts suggesting he had been on “shaky ground” for time due to the company’s disappointing results.

Shares in BT have fallen around 45% during Jansen’s four-year tenure.

Finally, it is also worth quickly noting here the lack of representation of SMEs on this business council. There are reportedly, 5.5 million SMEs in the UK, representing 99.9% of UK private sector businesses, yet none of these

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), one of the largest lobbying groups in the country, which represents around 160,000 SMEs, has been quick to criticise the composition of the business council, calling it full of “corporate bigwigs” and “suits”.

How much of a key role does the telcoms play in growing the UK’s economy? Join the ecosystem in discussion at this year’s Connected Britain conference, the UK’s largest digital economy event

Also in the news:
EU and Japan sign deals for subsea cables and semiconductors
Home Office lambasted over Emergency Services Network delays
Ofcom probes VMO2 as customers complain about contract cancellation

Broadband ISP BeFibre has today announced that their new gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network, which is being built by sister company Digital Infrastructure (DI), has finally gone live for 12,000 “residents” (coverage) in the Lancashire (England) town of Skelmersdale. At present Skelmersdale only has patchy FTTP coverage by Openreach and very little in the way […]

VIEWPOINT

EXA continues to expand and enhance its network and is committed to being the industry trailblazer by building the connectivity that underpins the digital economy. EXA Infrastructure VP Network Investments Steve Roberts

In 2023, EXA’s capex investment will continue to grow, with 20 approved investment projects which encompasses 10,940kms of new footprint, increasing EXA’s network size to 125,000 kms. EXA’s investment focus is all about serving the needs of new and existing customers, and providing high quality, reliable and scalable infrastructure.

EXA is leading the way in terms of large-scale network expansion projects, further diversifying network routes, ensuring customer requirements for resilient connectivity between data centres and cable landing stations.

As a dedicated owner and operator of digital infrastructure, EXA is not only investing in its network expansion but also improving performance and capability by implementing the latest innovations in the optical layer, passing these enhancements and improvements directly to our customer base.

Providing critical connectivity to our existing and new customers is what drives us as we continue to lead the investment across the industry. This drive is being powered by the demand in data traffic but also as we continue with our promise to become the undisputed data centre to data centre connectivity provider.

 

We will be in touch – contact us – EXA Infrastructure

Network access provider Openreach (BT) today claims to have launched a “game changer” new Ethernet product – OSA 100G Single (Optical Spectrum Access), which is designed to provide businesses or broadband ISPs with a dedicated, secure and always-on 100Gbps fibre optic data link that comes at a fairly attractive price point. The OSA 100G Single […]

News

In total, Vodafone will have raised around €5.4 billion from the spinning off and sale of Vantage Towers

Today, Vodafone Group has announced that it will continue to divest of its stake in Vantage Towers, today noting that it has received an additional €500 million from a consortium of infrastructure investors.

Vodafone spun off its European tower assets as Vantage Towers back in the summer of 2020, arguing that the move would simplify its portfolio, monetise its valuable passive assets, and provide vital capital for its 5G and fibre rollouts in various markets.

Shortly after announcing the spin off, Vodafone announced it would float Vantage on the Frankfurt stock market, with the subsequent IPO raising almost €2.6 billion and leaving Vodafone with a 82% stake in the business.

The company’s time on the stock market did not last long, however. After just over a year, at the end of 2022, Vodafone announced that it was selling part of its stake in Vantage towers to a pan-European towerco to a consortium of investment firms KKR & Co., Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP,) and The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF). As part of this ‘landmark moment’, Vodafone said that it would also form a joint venture with the consortium partners, to buy-out the minority shareholders.

This joint venture was named Oak Holdings and today owns an 89% stake in Vantage Towers.

Now, Vodafone’s latest dealings will see it reduce its ownership in Oak Holdings from 64% to 60%, while the private equity consortium will increase its stake to 40%. In total, the exchange will see Vodafone receive an additional €500 million, taking its total proceeds from the sale of Vantage to €5.4 billion.

The number of shares changing hands may not stop here, however, with the agreement allowing the consortium to purchase additional shares to increase their stake in Oak Holdings up to 50% by the end of 2023. Following this period, Vodafone will have a year to sell down its stake to 50% if it so chooses.

Vantage Towers owns and operates roughly 84,600 towers in ten European markets, making it a highly attractive long-term investment for private investors.

For Vodafone, meanwhile, the cash injection could not come at a better time, with the company’s last financial results dubbed “not good enough” by new CEO Margherita Della Valle.

How is the tower infrastructure market evolving in 2023? Join the telecoms ecosystem in discussion at this year’s Total Telecom Congress live in Amsterdam

Also in the news:
EU and Japan sign deals for subsea cables and semiconductors
Home Office lambasted over Emergency Services Network delays
Ofcom probes VMO2 as customers complain about contract cancellation