News

The international telecoms group owned by French billionaire Patrick Drahi said the increased stake indicated support for BT’s strategy and was not step towards a potential takeover

Today, Altice UK has revealed that it has increased its stake in BT to 24.5%.

Altice UK, owned by French billionaire Patrick Drahi, was already the UK operator’s largest stakeholder, having grown its stake to 18% over the past 18 months.

Drahi formed Altice UK back in 2021 with the express purpose taking a 12.1% stake in BT for around £2 billion. At the time, Altice assured BT that it had no intention of presenting the telco with a takeover offer.

Later that year, Altice increased its stake by a further 6% to 18%, a move which set alarm bells ringing at BT and set in motion a number of defensive measures to shore up the company’s operations against a potential takeover. Despite this, Altice remained adamant that stake increase was merely a valuable investment opportunity rather than a precursor to a potential takeover.

Indeed, even with the latest stake increase today, Altice says that it is not considering a takeover, with Drahi noting that he will not seek a seat on BT’s board. In a short statement from Altice, the company said it “continues to hold [BT’s] management in high regard and remains fully supportive of their strategy”.

The timing of this stake increase is interesting, arriving just days after BT announced it would be cutting 55,000 jobs by the end of the decade as part of broader cost-cutting measures. According to the operator, around a quarter of these roles will be subsumed by rapidly advancing technologies like AI and automation, allowing for increased agility and efficiencies.

The news, which was delivered alongside BT’s latest financial results, saw shares fell over 7%, perhaps making them a more attractive prospect for Altice to invest.

It is worth noting that the new stake is just below 25% is no coincidence, with the UK’s National Security and Investment Act (NSIA) automatically requiring an investigation into any foreign company that holds a 25% or greater stake in a business deemed critical to national security, such as BT.

In fact, Altice’s stake in BT already faced a probe via the NSIA last year, though this was later called off by the Secretary of State.

How is the UK’s telecoms ecosystem changing in 2023? Join the operators in discussion at this year’s live Connected Britain conference

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Broadband giant BT Group is facing renewed fears of a possible takeover attempt by French billionaire Patrick Drahi’s Altice UK today, which has once again increased its stake in the telecoms giant from 18% to 24.5% – just a shade under the level that might typically spark an investigation (another one). Alice UK has been […]

Press Release

KPN has successfully tested the latest 5G standard in its network; 5G Standalone. This makes the promise of even higher speeds, improved latency and new technologies such as network slicing a reality.

Halfway through 2020, KPN introduced 5G via the 700 MHz frequency band. This is now available throughout the Netherlands and KPN’s network has been tested as the best 5G network in the Netherlands. To date, however, 5G still works together with 4G, for example, smartphones combine 5G and 4G frequency bands and the core network does not yet work according to the latest 5G standards.

“With the introduction of 5G standalone (SA), 5G will become a independent technology for both radio and core, says Erik Brands, director of Mobile Networks at KPN. This means smartphones will only use 5G frequency bands and the core network is fully dedicate to this new 5G standard. This is important because many future functionalities of 5G will be driven from the heart of the network. The arrival of 5G standalone will bring the next evolution of 5G with higher speeds and improved latency. In addition, it enables network slicing with which part of the network (a “slice”) can be optimized for a particular use case.”

Thanks to a test license of the 3.5 GHz spectrum in combination with 5G standalone, KPN demonstrated a cloud gaming application in Breda together with technology partner Ericsson, whereby a video game can be played remotely via the mobile network. Multiple antenna sites in the area were used for this. During the test, all data was exchanged in real time between the player and the gaming platform that runs in a data center. For gaming, speed and response times (latency) are critical factors, that could make the difference between winning and losing. During the test, a download speed of almost 1 Gbps and a latency of only 14 milliseconds were achieved, considerably better than with the current 5G non-standalone standard.

5G and the combination of 3.5 GHz and the new 5G standalone standard enable new applications. For consumers, this means increased network capacity and higher throughput, but also improved latency, which is beneficial for cloud gaming applications. The applications for business customers are very diverse, ranging from  intelligent transport systems to precision agriculture or applications in logistics and manufacturing, where robots are controlled using 5G technology.

The 3.5 GHz frequency is scheduled to become available in the Netherlands at the end of this year. 5G standalone will be gradually introduced by KPN in 2024.

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News

The Digital Poverty Alliance (DPA) launched its National Delivery Plan during an event at the House of Lords in London yesterday. The strategy’s ambition is to end digital poverty in the UK by 2030.

Taking a phased approach which will be reviewed every year, the National Delivery Plan sets out a roadmap which government, industry, and local communities can use and collaborate on to alleviate the challenges of digital poverty.

The six core missions of the National Delivery Plan are:

Increase awareness across society about the need for sustainable and strategic action to end digital poverty.
Ensure affordable connectivity and guarantee full digital access for those in need on a sustainable basis.
Improve standards of accessibility, safety, and inclusiveness across all digital products and services.
By 2030, significantly reduce the proportion of individuals without essential digital skills and ensure the sustainability and expansion of these skills in response to changing technologies and needs.
Enhance knowledge and understanding of digital poverty among all stakeholders, including citizens, governments, and the public and private sectors, through the development and utilisation of research.
Increase local capacity to provide joined-up digital inclusion support to individuals and communities.

The DPA highlighted the timeliness of the plan’s launch with the upcoming General Election and the importance of raising the profile of digital poverty. The strategy also includes a call to the UK Government to create a new digital inclusion strategy (the previous strategy having been released in 2014).

Other key action points are laid out in the National Delivery Plan including calls for a guarantee of access to free devices and connectivity for those at risk of digital exclusion; more action on access to social tariffs; a suggestion of a jointly funded, industry-wide social tariffs; and a proposal to cut the VAT rate charged on broadband and mobile bills to five percent, thus recognising connectivity as an essential utility.

Paul Finnis, CEO of the Digital Poverty Alliance and the Learning Foundation said: “The National Delivery Plan is a unique and revolutionary strategy to tackle the issue of digital poverty, calling on an urgent and collaborative effort between the Digital Poverty Alliance, government, industry leaders, and community organisations…This flagship strategy set out by the DPA is designed to have a tangible impact on those most impacted by a lack of essential access to the digital world and the alliance is committed to delivering this support alongside our partners and fellow community.”

Paula Coughlan, Chief People, Communications and Sustainability Officer at Currys plc (one of the founding partners of the DPA) said: “At Currys we believe in the power of technology to improve lives. With digitisation continuing to flourish – bringing great advantages to individuals, communities, and businesses – digital inclusion is no longer a ‘nice to have’, it’s an essential, for everyone.”

Strategies for promoting digital inclusion and bridging the digital divide will be a key theme at Connected Britain 2023. Join us for the UK’s most important connectivity event, taking place at the London ExCeL on 20 and 21 September.

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