Telecom leaders discussed the challenge of monetizing 5G. Vodafone’s ‘The Great British Telecoms Switch’ campaign offers BT customers savings and compensations to switch providers. A Pew Research Center survey found U.S. teens have a complex relationship with smartphones. Verizon’s report shows a 129% rise in mobile network traffic over 5 years. Iliad aims to become the fifth-largest mobile operator in Europe by 2024.
In a surprising turn of events, Vodafone has once again declined an enhanced merger proposal from Iliad for its Italian operations, despite the latter’s efforts to sweeten the deal. Iliad had revised its initial offer, made two years ago, in December, proposing a 50:50 joint venture that valued Vodafone Italia at €10.45 billion. This arrangement would have netted Vodafone €6.5 billion in cash and a €2 billion shareholder loan, with additional cash influx opportunities through a buyout option.
In a groundbreaking move, Iliad and Vodafone are set to join forces in a strategic merger that has gained unanimous support from Iliad’s board of directors and its primary shareholder, Xavier Niel. The proposal aims to amalgamate Iliad’s ‘innovative approach to connectivity, affordability, and digital inclusivity’ with Vodafone’s expertise in the business-to-business (B2B) sector.
Iliad, the French telecom operator, steps up to redefine Europe’s AI landscape, unveiling a Nvidia DGX SuperPOD, the first in Europe. Aimed for their Cloud division, Scaleway, it aims to accelerate AI services for businesses while securing a technological edge. Yet, questions on ROI and sustainability lurk amidst innovation.
The France-based Iliad Group has carved a unique path in the European telecommunications landscape, touting its “Iliad way” as the driving force behind its outperformance in the three key markets of France, Italy, and Poland. Iliad reported impressive group organic revenue growth, with France contributing 7.7%, Italy 12.2%, and Poland 5.6% for the first half of 2023.
Samsung introduces S22 flagship smartphones At its most recent Galaxy Unpacked presentation, Samsung Electronics announced a new lineup of premium smartphones. The S22 series has three 5G models, including the top-of-the-range Ultra edition, which includes features from Samsung’s previous Note handsets. With an Armor Aluminum frame used in all three versions, Samsung promises a highly durable phone. In addition, to lessen the environmental impact of the smartphones, the business has used recovered fishing nets and post-consumer trash in numerous components such as the speaker and keys. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/yc7efuay FCC to tackle broadband discrimination The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced the creation of a new task force charged with establishing regulations that encourage equitable access to broadband as the organization prepares to crack down on digital discrimination. The task group will focus on developing regulations that prevent discrimination in broadband deployment based on a community’s income, racial or…
Vodafone and Iliad are in negotiations to merge their respective businesses in Italy. Such a merger would provide advantages for both corporations in one of Europe’s most competitive markets and should be positive for the industry in general. Discussions between the two corporations are ongoing, and both sides are actively looking for ways to connect their separate businesses together in Italy. If the merger is approved, it will create a telecommunications giant with over 36% mobile market penetration and combined sales of nearly $6.80 billion. Vodafone and The Iliad both declined to comment on the negotiations. The talks take place as the local incumbent, Telecom Italia, continues to evaluate a $12.25 billion acquisition offer from US investor KKR aimed at taking Italy’s largest phone business private. Industry leaders have frequently recommended the pursuit of four-to-three telecom mergers, which may generate cost synergies and boost margins by reducing…
Telecom Italia (TIM) has inked a deal with the Italian branch of Xavier Niel’s Iliad to co-invest in TIM’s last-mile grid firm FiberCop in order to accelerate the deployment of fiber broadband lines in Italy. Under the terms of the agreement with TIM, Iliad will co-invest in FiberCop to assist in the development of the network that connects street cabinets to people’s houses. Iliad will receive access to Telecom Italia’s core fiber network, allowing it to provide ultrafast fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) connections to clients. According to TIM, the agreement validated FiberCop’s investment strategy, which aims to link 75 percent of Italy’s so-called grey and black zones, including cities and industrial districts, with FTTH connections at speeds of more than 1 gigabyte per second by 2025. The agreement’s financial terms were not disclosed. According to analysts, the FiberCop agreement might help TIM counter some of the heightened competitive pressure…
MessageBird acquires 2 companies The cloud messaging platform, MessageBird, has announced the acquisition of two companies that will increase its customer engagement portfolio. The goal of MessageBird is to improve communications between companies and their customers. Their multi-channel technology aims to give customers the opportunity to communicate with the business in a way they like, rather than limiting the business to the currently-preferred method. Buying 24sessions and Hull provides MessageBird with even more possibilities. The company believes that consumers prefer to use messaging rather than voice calls and are proposing that businesses use this method of communication to cater to customers. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/9nedkjns ETSI published TR 103 639 for timeslicing The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), known for its universally accepted standards such as UMTS, 4G and TETRA, has published TR 103 639. The technical report describes a system and metrics for timeslice measurement methodologies for assessing the…
The French telecommunications provider Iliad, that provides fixed and mobile telephony services, prepaid phone cards, Internet access and hosting services, has signed a new $356 million loan deal with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to help the Iliad Group finance its mobile network deployment in France, in particular to consolidate its 4G network and deploy its 5G network. Since 2009, the EIB has financed Iliad, and with this new loan the total financing exceeds $1.3 billion. Having helped finance the development of the Iliad fixed network for more than a decade, the EIB is once again working with the group to provide financial support for the company’s latest generation of mobile networks. There was little information on what exactly the latest loan would be used for, but Iliad said it is devoted to providing digital coverage to the whole of France, including most rural areas. Ambroise Fayolle, Vice-President…
