Broadband ISP Home Telecom has signed a new partnership that will enable them to harness F&W Networks‘ new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network, which already covers 335,000 premises across the UK (not all are Ready for Service) and aims to reach 1 million premises by 2025. FWN is currently busy building their “full fibre” network across […]

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The South African operator has received an unsolicited bid from a consortium led by former CEO Sipho Maseko

This week, Telkom South Africa has confirmed that it has been approached with a “non-binding indicative letter” from a consortium seeking a majority stake in the business.

The consortium reportedly includes Axian Telecom and the Government Employees Pension Fund, managed by the Public Investment Corporation, and is led by Telkom’s former CEO, Sipho Maseko.

Discussions surrounding the bid are reportedly still in the “exploratory” stage, with the Telkom board of directors considering its options. Telkom has also asked the consortium to provide additional clarity on a number of matters, including the proposed offer price and the certainty of funding.

The bid comes at a troubling time for Telkom, which has this week announced that its full-year earnings have plummeted, falling 76.6% year-on-year. The company blames this collapse on various macroeconomic factors, primarily soaring inflation and the ongoing national energy crisis.

South Africa is currently facing some of its worst-ever power cuts as a result of its overwhelmed national power grid, with some blackouts lasting up to 16 hours. Throughout this crisis, the nation’s telecoms operators have been scrambling to keep their networks operational – at considerable cost – with MTN even crowdsourcing generators to keep their mobile sites up and running.

Telkom itself noted the “unparalleled levels of loadshedding” that the company had faced in the past year, also highlighting the “alarming number of incidents of theft and vandalism targeting network infrastructure”.

However, the company’s struggling financial performance is not the only driver for the takeover offer. In fact, the company has been mulling over mergers and tie-ups with local and international players for over a year now, having seen negotiations take place with both Rain and MTN in the last year.

More recently, however, it has been pan-African operator group Axian that has perhaps displayed the greatest interest, having submitted a joint bid as part of the Afrifund Investments consortium earlier this year. This bid was ultimately rejected for being too low, hence necessitating this new approach this week.

Join the telecoms community in discussion at this year’s Total Telecom Congress live in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Also in the news:
Final bids for TIM’s fibre network expected tomorrow
Let’s talk about the symbiotic relationship between data centers and submarine cables
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Colt Technology Services has confirmed the completion of a new multi-Terabit speed capable Dark Fibre (G.652D/G.657) cable along the Channel Tunnel, which runs between the UK (Folkestone, Kent) and France (Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais) under the English Channel sea. The successful deployment follows the signing of an exclusive new 25-year concession agreement between Colt and Getlink in […]

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The operator will join its rival Omantel in monetising its passive infrastructure, seeking to sell and leaseback its towers

Ooredoo Oman has issued a tender for the sale and leaseback of its tower infrastructure, with ‘several companies with expertise in telecommunication towers’ invited to bid, according to a report in the Muscat Daily.

“Ooredoo will provide updates to the market regarding any significant developments in the project. The winning bid will be disclosed once a final decision is reached by the company, subject to approval from the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority and other relevant authorities in compliance with the law and the company’s internal regulations,” said the operator.

The operator is currently evaluating bids, though notes that the process is in the early stages.

The number of towers on offer, the estimated value of the infrastructure, and the financial details of bids have yet to be revealed.

Ooredoo Oman’s parent company, Ooredoo Group, has been exploring the sale of its tower assets in various markets for over a year now, following a global trend set by the likes of Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, and Telefonica. These operators have all spun off their tower units in recent years to attract investment, buoyed by attractive valuations from private investment firms at a time when they are undergoing expensive fibre and 5G infrastructure rollouts.

Ooredoo itself has a portfolio of over 20,000 towers in the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia, which combined could be worth as much as $5 billion.

The sale of the operator’s Omani towers specifically was first hinted at back in September last year.

It should be noted that Ooredoo is not the only Middle Eastern operator to be monetising its tower infrastructure. The company’s local rival, Omantel, for example, sold its towers to Helios Towers Company at the end of last year for $495 million.

Oman’s final mobile player, Vodafone Oman, primarily uses tower infrastructure owned and operated by Oman Towers Company, with whom they struck a deal back in 2020.

How is the mobile tower market evolving in 2023?  Join the telecoms community in discussion at this year’s Total Telecom Congress live in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Also in the news:
Final bids for TIM’s fibre network expected tomorrow
Let’s talk about the symbiotic relationship between data centers and submarine cables
Mexico’s high 5G spectrum price could see Telcel the only bidder in latest auction

Hull-based UK broadband ISP KCOM, which is currently extending their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across more of East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (England), has added the small rural East Yorkshire village of East Cottingwith (population of around 350) to their coverage. The operator’s full fibre network already covers around 300,000 premises, but in September 2022 they […]

UK ISP Virgin Media (VMO2) has launched a new “flash offer” that, until 1:59pm on Thursday (15th June), will give new customers the opportunity to get their hands on either a 43″ Toshiba TV or £200 bill credit when they purchase one of several selected bundles on an 18-month contract. Whichever package customers choose, they […]

Network access provider Openreach has declined to elaborate on a recently revealed proposal from their CEO, Clive Selley, which confirmed that the UK broadband giant was “exploring whether it’s practical” to deploy public EV chargers next to some of their 90,000 or so FTTC (VDSL2) street cabinets. The operator is already well-known to be in […]

Good news. After very recently remarking on another story that Starlink’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) based mega constellation of ultrafast broadband satellites still didn’t cover the whole of Shetland in North Scotland, the network coverage has now grown to cover the whole island. Customers in the UK typically pay from £75 per month, plus £449 […]

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The cyberattack against the UK telecoms regulator reportedly jeopardised the personal information of 412 employees, as well as confidential data from various companies that Ofcom regulates

Today, Ofcom has confirmed that it is among an increasing number of companies to fall victim to a ransomware attack by cybercriminal organisation Clop, thought to be based in Russia.

Over the past couple of weeks, numerous companies including the BBC, British Airways, and Boots have announced that they have had sensitive data stolen by the ransomware group, affecting over 100,000 staff in total. In some cases, the data accessed included sensitive payroll.

Now, Ofcom says that it too has fallen victim to this cyberattack, resulting in the personal information of 412 employees being accessed, as well as confidential data belonging to companies being regulated by Ofcom.

Payroll data was not accessed in Ofcom’s case, according to reports.

In the attack on Ofcom, as was the case for the previously announced attacks, the breach relates to vulnerabilities in MOVEit, software being used by organisations to transfer sensitive information.

Researchers reportedly discovered a critical vulnerability on this software back in May, with attempts to exploit this vulnerability reportedly being revealed just a month later. However, it seems these revelations came too late to stop Clop from targeting major companies around the world.

Nonetheless, Ofcom says it has reacted quickly to minimise the impact of the attack, as well as notifying the Information Commissioners Office.

“A limited amount of information about certain companies we regulate – some of it confidential – along with personal data of 412 Ofcom employees, was downloaded during the attack,” said Ofcom in a statement. “The security of commercially confidential and sensitive personal information provided to Ofcom is taken extremely seriously. We took immediate action to prevent further use of the MOVEit service and to implement the recommended security measures. We also swiftly alerted all affected Ofcom-regulated companies, and we continue to offer support and assistance to our colleagues.”

According to reports, Clop is threatening to begin publishing the sensitive data of affected companies later this week if they are not paid a ransom fee. The scale of the ransom has not been made public.

Ransomware attacks such as this have been increasing at a meteoric rate in recent years, fuelled by an influx of new cybercriminal organisations and the expansion of existing operations since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Cyber extortion activity has reached a new high in the first quarter of 2023 and the recent MOVEit data breach is a stark reminder that threat actors are always on the lookout to wreak havoc. In this case, companies using the MOVEit software became potential targets as it appears that hackers affiliated with the Cl0p group orchestrated a mass attack to find and compromise their servers,” explained Charl Van Der Walt, Head of Security Research at Orange Cyberdefense.

“Accounting for a staggering 36% of all victims in 2022, it is not surprising that large organisations are becoming a preferred target for cyber extortion due to handling thousands of pieces of personal data. Whilst this remains true in the case of the MOVEit breach, medium and small sized organisations are not safe either, as cyber criminals are opportunistic by nature.”

Is the global telecoms industry doing enough to protect their customers’ personal data from ransomware attacks? Join the telecoms community as they discuss the hottest issues in cybersecurity at this year’s Total Telecom Congress live in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Also in the news:
Final bids for TIM’s fibre network expected tomorrow
Let’s talk about the symbiotic relationship between data centers and submarine cables
Mexico’s high 5G spectrum price could see Telcel the only bidder in latest auction

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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has allocated 25 mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) licences, seeking to boost competition in the country’s growing mobile market

This week, the NCC has announced the allocation of 25 MVNO licences, arguing that these new providers will help extend telecoms services to more rural and underserved areas of the country.

Nigeria’s mobile market is currently served by four national operators: MTN, Globacom, Airtel and 9Mobile. MTN controls roughly 40% of the market, with Globacom and Airtel vying for second place with roughly 25% of the market each. 9mobile is in a distant fourth place with less than 10% market share.

Until now, none of these operators have been required to make provisions for MVNOs to use their networks.

In Nigeria, only around half of the population has access to mobile broadband, with only around 4% having access to 4G. As a result, the NCC fears that the country is at risk of falling behind its regional peers, necessitating a shakeup of the mobile market.

The NCC subsequently announced their intention of introducing MVNOs in 2021, saying that the move would boost competition in the market and accelerate the provision of broader services to customers across the country.

Now, the NCC has made ten-year licences available in five tiers, each more expensive than the last, with the higher tiers allowing the MVNOs increasing control over how they make use of mobile network operator’s infrastructure and market their services.

Licencing fees ranged from 35 million naira ($76,000) for a Tier 1 licence to 500 naira ($1.08 million) for a Tier 5 licence.

No companies opted for a Tier 1 licence, while seven obtained a Tier 2 licence, seven received a Tier 3 licence, four received a Tier 4 licence, and eight received the highest Tier 5 licence. The list of recipients can be found here.

In total, the regulator raised around 5.9 billion naira ($13 million) from the licencing process.

How is the African telecoms ecosystem changing in 2023?  Join the telecoms sector in discussion at this year’s Total Telecom Congress live in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Also in the news:
Final bids for TIM’s fibre network expected tomorrow
Let’s talk about the symbiotic relationship between data centers and submarine cables
Mexico’s high 5G spectrum price could see Telcel the only bidder in latest auction