Telecom News | Week #44: T Challenge, End of Vodafone Spain, Nokia’s Technology Strategy 2030, Samsung and O2 testing vRAN.
European telecoms investment firm, Zegona Communications, is reportedly in advanced talks with Vodafone to acquire a hefty stake in Vodafone Spain. Negotiations heat up amid rising competition in Spain’s telecoms market and looming industry-wide reshuffles. However, questions remain about the potential investment’s structure and implications for Vodafone’s balance sheet.
Lina Zaboras, CEO at DIDWW, discusses the principles of progressive management. She emphasizes that successful leadership is driven by understanding motivation, setting clear goals, and fostering open communication. Great leaders are open to learning, exhibit emotional intelligence, and embrace innovation, adapting to the ever-changing business landscape.
Ofcom’s revised net neutrality rules in the UK now allow broadband providers to offer tiered services based on latency, not just throughput. Furthermore, these new regulations also permit the creation of specialized services, paving the way for network slicing and multi-access edge computing in the future. On the somewhat contentious front, zero-rating, or providing unrestricted access to specific online services, gets a green light, albeit with a few conditions.
In a surprising twist, T-Mobile has withdrawn its plan to move select subscribers to more expensive mobile plans, a decision triggered due to substantial backlash from customers and the media. While emphasizing the necessity for small-scale tests as part of enhancing customer experience, T-Mobile’s CEO has hinted at the likelihood of similar attempts in future.
In a bold amalgamation move, Orange and MasMovil are set to combine their Spanish telecom operations in a €19 billion deal. European regulators, however, have expressed concerns, fearing a spike in consumer costs due to a potential market monopoly. To address these apprehensions, Orange and MasMovil are shedding some assets, with Romanian telecom Digi earmarked to acquire parts of the business, paving the way for a more competitive landscape. Californian tech enthusiasts, early adopters and IT professionals are keenly observing this development, which is seen as a yardstick for regulator sentiment towards large-scale telecom consolidation in Europe.
In a robust move, Nokia is set to enhance 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) with the unveiling of FastMile, two innovative solutions aimed at boosting indoor and outdoor coverage. This stride could revolutionize the industry, especially when considering wall attenuation effects on network capacity. FastMile’s outdoor solution cleverly sidesteps signal loss due to wall materials, while an intuitive mobile app assists users in determining the best placement for their receivers—shaping a route towards an optimal user experience in telecommunications.
Serving as key hubs in business communication, call and contact centers consistently enhance customer experiences in our digital era. In line with the sector’s advancements, DIDWW, a global provider of premium quality VoIP communications, two-way SIP trunking and SMS services, has announced its participation in the Call & Contact Centre Expo in London. Recognized as Europe’s premier summit for the telecoms sector, the Expo is set to bring together over 3,500 industry professionals, offering valuable insights and networking opportunities.
A recent study conducted by Juniper Research, a renowned telecommunications authority, has revealed that the escalating costs of SMS authentication services and the emergence of fraudulent activities are poised to curtail the demand for SMS-based authentication among enterprises. As a result, telecommunications operators are projected to witness a mere 4% increase in traffic in 2024, in stark contrast to the average annual growth rate of 10% observed over the past five years.
CityFibre’s new, True Gig provides a 1.2 Gbps wholesale service, aiming to clear the haze in UK telecommunications advertising and help ISPs deliver gigabit broadband services to their customers. This offering not only circumvents stringent advertising regulations but also supports CityFibre’s vision of an honest high-speed fibre network. The question posed is, will this clear the muddy waters of broadband advertising while promoting a fibre revolution in the UK?
