European Commission approves Orange–MásMóvil merger
News The merger, which was first announced in June 2022, is worth €18.6 billion After an in-depth investigation was opened into the potential transaction in April last year, the European Commission has approved the creation of a 50:50 joint venture (JV) between France’s Orange and Spain’s MásMóvil. The JV’s approval was conditional on Romania’s Digi (the largest MVNO in Spain) acquiring spectrum from MásMóvil in order to become a new fourth mobile operator. The initial investigation was...
Vodafone Germany to power 5G infrastructure with renewable energy
News The energy will come from multinational energy company RWE’s offshore wind farm in the North Sea Vodafone Germany has announced a new 10-year deal to use energy company RWE’s renewable energy to power their 5G network, starting in 2026. The Power Purchase Agreement will see Vodafone purchase 250-GWh of energy annually from RWE, enough energy to permanently power 12,000 of Vodafone’s mobile base stations. The power will be generated by RWE’s ‘Kaskasi’ offshore wind farm in the North...
Vestager quashes rumours that EU will loosen merger rules
News The European Commissioner said that merger rules would not change, but nonetheless emphasised the need for a less fragmented European market This week, European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has moved to dispel rumours that the European Union will ease merger rules for the telecoms sector, saying that she has not heard of any such proposals. Her comments come after a report published last week by Reuters, based on Commission documents, said that antitrust regulators were preparing to...
EE Has Upgraded or Built Over 40 4G Mobile Masts in North Yorkshire
Mobile operator EE (BT) has announced that they’ve upgraded or built more than 40 mobile masts in North Yorkshire (England) over the last two years, which is part of their commitment to expand rural 4G (mobile broadband) connectivity under the £1bn industry-led Shared Rural Network (SRN) project. The five most recent masts to go live […]
ISP Community Fibre to Supply London Schools with a Full Fibre Backup
Network operator and UK ISP CommunityFibre, which has deployed a 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across a big chunk of London and some surrounding areas, has today announced a new 5-year deal with the London Grid for Learning (LGfL) to supply schools with a “back-up” full fibre broadband service. At present the LGfL already works […]
Openreach Deploy G.INP to Boost UK ECI FTTC Broadband Lines
Openreach (BT) has finally succeeded in deploying ReTransmission (ReTx / G.INP) across their ECI (Ribbon) based UK estate of Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC / VDSL2) broadband ISP cabinets and customer lines, which comes after many years of trying to get the technology to work. The result is faster speeds and improved stability. The news these days is […]
nexfibre confirms £1bn UK broadband investment
News The company claims the investment will allow them to build more than any other fibre network provider in the UK this year besides Openreach UK-based wholesale fibre operator nexfibre has announced that it will invest £1 billion in its network over the 2024 financial year. nexfibre was formed in 2022 as a £4.5 billion joint venture between InfraVia Capital Partners, Liberty Global and Telefonica. The company aims to build a Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband networks that will...
Rakuten Mobile to launch Japanese satellite-to-mobile service with AST SpaceMobile
News The companies aim to launch the service commercially in 2026, but note that the specific timing remains “uncertain” Japanese mobile network operator Rakuten Mobile has announced that it is planning to launch a satellite-to-mobile service in collaboration with AST SpaceMobile in Japan. The companies envisage that the direct-to-mobile satellite services will be used for messaging initially, but ultimately being expanded to internet, voice, and video services using regular smartphones. ...
VMO2 prepares to spin off fixed network business
News Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) says that the new fibre wholesaler will establish the “biggest dedicated fixed network challenger in the country” and could prove a focal point for altnet consolidation VMO2 is preparing to spin off its fixed broadband network into a fully owned wholesale subsidiary NetCo. The move will open up VMO2’s broadband networks, which currently provide cable and fibre broadband services to 16 million homes, to wholesale for the first time, giving ISPs looking for scale an...
TELUS doubles down on Samsung to build Canada’s first Open RAN network
Press Release TELUS to supercharge its 5G network using Samsung’s vRAN 3.0 and Open RAN solutions — improving performance, energy efficiency and flexibility for future enhancements TELUS and Samsung Electronics announced today that they will build Canada’s first commercial virtualized and open radio access network (RAN) — an intelligent, next-generation technology that offers enhanced performance, flexibility, energy efficiency and automation. The companies are expanding their collaboration...