Telefonica launches Tech and Infra units amid Latam spin-off
Spain’s telecom giant Telefonica has announced a major organisational restructuring after a meeting of its board of directors. The company’s chairman and CEO Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete has introduced a new bold strategy to spin off company assets and prepare for industry 4.0.
With its 5-point plan, Telefonica aims to generate more than EUR 2 billion a year in additional revenues from 2022, by prioritising its four key markets of Spain, Brazil, the UK and Germany and carrying out an “operational spin-off” of its Latin American business. The company will also set up a subsidiary for its cloud, cybersecurity and IoT businesses called Telefonica Tech and another for its infrastructure assets, Telefonica Infra.
Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/wjkobwc
AT&T and Microsoft launch edge computing network
Microsoft and AT&T have integrated 5G with Azure to launch their new Network Edge Compute (NEC) service for enterprise customers. This follows a strategic alliance signed by the two tech giants in July to work on new 5G, cloud and edge computing services. In a statement, the companies said that they are opening select preview availability for Network Edge Compute (NEC) technology, which weaves Microsoft Azure cloud services into AT&T network edge locations closer to customers. NEC is available to certain customers, initially in Dallas, but will roll out to some in Los Angeles and Atlanta over the next year.
Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/tqpw6t3
Tata Comm, Kacific sign global IP connectivity and cyber security deal
Tata Communications and Kacific Broadband Satellites Group (Kacific) have entered into an agreement to provide terrestrial connectivity services. According to the announcement, Kacific is getting ready to launch its first satellite, Kacific1, and Tata Communications will provide global Internet and cybersecurity services for Kacific’s Ka-band satellite network. Kacific CEO, Christian Patouraux, said, “Our high-speed broadband will reach people living across both the most remote rural locations and the most densely populated urban centers in the Asia Pacific region.”
Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/vx22mbz
Altice Europe to buy telecoms fiber company Covage for $1.1 billion
Altice Europe has announced that its French fibre subsidiary, SFR FTTH, is acquiring France’s fourth largest fibre wholesale operator Covage for EUR 1 billion to expand the range of its finer network business. The company said this acquisition will be financed with EUR 70 million worth of non-recourse debt, EUR 465 million of cash equity to be contributed by Altice and EUR 465 million of cash equity to be contributed by SFR FTTH’s financial investors. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2020.
Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/tuga5fd
Global 5G uptake won’t start to really ramp until 2021 – Ericsson
Ericsson has reported that the global number of 5G subscriptions will top 2.6 billion within the next six years, driven by sustained momentum and a rapidly developing 5G ecosystem. According to the report, the average monthly data-traffic-per-smartphone will increase from the current figure of 7.2 GB to 24 GB by the end of 2025, partly due to new consumer behavior, such as Virtual Reality (VR) streaming. The telecom giant’s report also projects that 5G will cover up to 65 percent of the global population by the end of 2025 and will handle 45 percent of global mobile data traffic.
Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/uhn79fh
