Deutsche Telekom and Softbank in a share-swap deal In a significant shake-up that reinforces the German group’s transatlantic emphasis, Deutsche Telekom has reached a $7 billion share-swap agreement with SoftBank Group to raise its stake in T-Mobile US. In addition, Deutsche Telekom has sold its Dutch subsidiary. As a consequence of the two transactions, Deutsche Telekom’s share in T-Mobile US will increase to 48.4 percent, moving it closer to its aim of gaining direct control of the $170 billion US telecoms operator. In exchange, SoftBank will receive cash and a 4.5 percent interest in Deutsche Telekom, creating a direct shareholding link. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/32tvyn46 NEC expands its partnership with AWS NEC has stated that it will broaden its relationship with AWS to include 5G and digital governance. NEC aims to create an “end-to-end 5G offering” by integrating their cloud-native open 5G core with AWS’ cloud and edge services. According…
OneWeb launches 34 more broadband satellites OneWeb has reported the successful launch of 34 additional low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, increasing the total deployment to 288. The company plans to grow its fleet to 648 satellites by the end of next year in order to provide worldwide coverage. The rollout comes after the conclusion of OneWeb’s Five to 50 mission, and it bodes well for the promise of a commercial service later this year, followed by a worldwide service in 2022. The forthcoming 648-strong LEO fleet claims data speed of up to 195mbps, with latency as low as 50ms. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/cnpshnse Comcast acquires Masergy Comcast Business has agreed to purchase Masergy, a cloud and software-defined networking business that provides a portfolio of managed services such as SD-WAN, unified communications-as-a-service, call center-as-a-service and security. The purchase price was not revealed. Comcast’s goal with this acquisition is to enhance its…
OneWeb, a global communications company that provides broadband satellite Internet services around the world, has announced another successful launch of 36 Arianespace satellites from the Vostochny Cosmodrome. With this launch, the company gets closer to reaching their “Five to 50” goal and the lift off of commercial services by the end of this year. The launch took place on May 28th at 18:38 BST. The OneWeb satellites detached from their host rocket and were distributed in nine clusters over 3 hours and 52 minutes. Signals were received from all 36 satellites, indicating their operational status. This launch is the fourth in a series of five total launches needed to complete the “Five to 50” program. The program will allow OneWeb to offer connectivity in all parts of the UK, Alaska, Northern Europe, Greenland, Iceland, the Arctic Seas and Canada. The service is predicted to be available by the end…
Orange considers buying infrastructure assets it sold almost two decades ago Orange is considering a probable purchase of the former telecommunications infrastructure unit TDF. The company sold TDF nearly two decades ago to lessen its debt. Orange is considering combining TDF with the recently established European mast company TOTEM, as infrastructure appraisals have recently increased with interest from investors such as the US private equity firm KKR and Spain’s Cellnex. TDF, previously known as Télédiffusion de France, operates TV and radio towers, mobile sites, as well as fiber infrastructure and related services through around 19,000 sites, of which 7,300 are active. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/2etpjpjn AT&T to modernize U.S. DOT’s network AT&T and the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) have signed a 12-year, $175 million deal to assist DOT in upgrading its IP and voice infrastructure. AT&T will supply DOT with virtual private networking and secure cloud technology, together…