All Public Affairs articles – Page 30
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Premium
Government eyes open infrastructure as 2025 plan stalls
DCMS looking at encouraging greater sharing across utilities and telecoms infrastructure, and encouraging Openreach to make use of rivals’ assets. UK government beating drum of infrastructure investment as part of the pandemic response, but references to 2025 Gigabit network deadlines fading into background.
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Network & Infrastructure
US forces UK hand on Huawei, Germany resists
Reports that tightened US sanctions may be a game changer on Huawei security pave the way for a UK government U-turn on its approach to the vendor. In Germany, leaked DT contract details underline willingness of Huawei to hedge operator risks with stockpiled supplies and financial guarantees.
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Ofcom go ahead for Openreach race to switch off copper
Ofcom provides a degree of clarity on Openreach’s obligations ahead of relaxation of regulation, once fibre covers an exchange. However, a wait-and-see approach on determining what will constitute a fully fibre-enabled exchange means Openreach is stepping on the accelerator at its own risk.
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M&A
EU: Vestager nod set to prompt regional consolidation race
Vestager distracts from four-to-three merger demands by highlighting potential for creation of pan-European big beasts. But is this feasible in any imminent iteration of Europe, beyond cross-border infrastructure ventures envisaged by Orange?
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Telefónica sets eyes on COVID restart; announcements across all markets: Telefónicawatch roundup June-July 2020
Telefónica joined Restarting Together COVID-19 recovery programme, absent from ETSI’s E4P scheme, and one of 53 large companies to take a Bank of England emergency loan. TIWS test LEO satellite; ElevenPaths gets AWS security certification. Announcements across Telefónica’s core markets include ongoing 5G/China drama in the UK; Brazilian network-sharing ...
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Strategy & Change
O2 seeks to benefit from post-COVID-19 era
O2 UK turns sell-to relationships on store technology into commercial partnerships. Operator creates new suite of digital solutions to resolve social distancing challenges, using technology from two startups originally incubated by Wayra UK.
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Network & Infrastructure
Scottish rural 4G scheme on pause
Government says limited work will resume, post shutdown, “in the coming weeks”.
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Public Affairs
Vodacom: 2019 arrests in Tanzania were “troubling”
Shockwaves have evidently not yet subsided from strikingly severe treatment of executives in April 2019 incident.
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BT executives: teamwork key for new normal
Closer partnerships with customers and more collaboration with key suppliers viewed as especially key in post-COVID-19 era. Hyperscalers looming large as a challenging market presence but also as potentially valuable partners. Response to current disruption is providing BT with food for thought on how it can move fast and ...
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BT FY19–20: SME coronavirus pain hits BT early
BT did not overly dwell on the impact of the Coronavirus crisis, highlighting areas where it has assisted, as well as where it has benefited and sees potential opportunities.
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Public Affairs
DT tracing COVID app finally set for take off
German authorities muse a ten-day earlier hand-off to DT and SAP could have seen Germany’s tracing programme accelerated by up to three weeks. T-Systems’ staff beta testing app, while DT contact centres will manage manual test result communications.
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M&A
EU court ruling could revive network consolidation
Commission found to have been wrong to block O2–Three merger, based on commitment to upholding four-player mobile markets in larger countries. While not yet final, the court’s decision may fire the starting pistol for a renewed wave of consolidation among telcos struggling to manage competition. Commissioner Vestager side-steps comment ...
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Partnerships & Alliances
Telefónica, Vodafone support COVID-climate aid alignment
Telcos represented in UN-backed statement urging alignment of COVID-19 economic response with climate action. Magyar Telekom, GSMA, and Orange also pledge support.
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Public Affairs
Greek mobile players face fresh scrutiny
Independent review finds cause for concern in mobile market competition. Talks underway looking to enforce rate reduction in market dominated by DT’s Cosmote.
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Deutsche Telekom and SAP charged with scaling German COVID tracker
T-Systems said to be providing server architecture for ramping up of a national contact tracing programme intended to help contain the spread of COVID-19. DT’s involvement comes as federal government bows to pressure to adopt a decentralised approach to tracing after resistance to centralisation from Apple and Google.
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Public Affairs
Blockchain expert warns of huge telco workload
Regulatory and legal hurdles often bigger than technical challenges.
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Partnerships & Alliances
Telefónica backs lobbyist drive for Huawei alternatives
New group effectively the political wing of operator-led efforts to develop an open RAN ecosystem, with major integrated network vendors conspicuously absent. Nokia gatecrashes launch party.
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Strategy & Change
Group sees Millicom Costa Rica withdrawal as a bit rich
Telefónica threatens legal action after late-hour back-out by buyer.
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Premium
Concerns continue over engineer welfare
Unprecedented assaults on Openreach staff have seen the need for new safety training from the operator.
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Public Affairs
O2 Germany risk BNetzA fines for 4G coverage
BNetzA threatened O2 Germany with financial penalties if it does not quickly address 4G coverage shortfalls.