Vodafone and Three plan UK merger
The UK’s third and fourth largest mobile network operators outlined plans this year to combine their operations and create a mobile champion for the market.
Both Three and Vodafone were operating below the cost of capital, and as such felt the need to pool their investment in 5G to compete with the vertically integrated BT/EE and Virgin Media O2. However concerns were raised over competition in a three player market.
A previously proposed merger between Three and O2 was blocked by EU legislators, so the industry was keen to assess how a post-Brexit CMA would evaluate the tie-up.
Microsoft acquires Activision for $69 billion, gaming leads to record traffic
The M&A buzz continued as Microsoft closed on its huge deal to buy Activision, but only after the sale of its cloud gaming unit to Ubisoft.
Online gaming has continued to push up internet traffic to record highs. VMO2 said the return of the original Fortnite map generated a record network surge in November.
As RockStar prepares to launch the latest installment in its much revered, grand theft auto series, network constraints are front of mind.
“The gaming industry has been moving away from physical discs and towards downloadable games for some time now, but if GTA6 is going to be as large as some of the rumours suggest then it’s going to place a real strain on networks,” Steve Alexander, CTO at network specialist company Ciena told Capacity.
BT boss Philip Jansen announced he would be stepping down in 2024, and was swiftly replaced by Allison Kirkby, a non-executive director on BT’s board and CEO of Swedish Telia Group.
Kirkby will take the top job at BT early next year, and will finish the work that Jansen started rolling out full fibre broadband across the UK.
Jansen’s tenure has not been without controversy, as comments that the expansion of fibre alt-nets would “end in tears” raised the ire of Ofcom, who investigated BT’s wholesale pricing. Jansen claims the comments were taken out of context.
Capacity placed Kirkby at number 2 on its list of potential BT CEO replacements.
Just last month, London headquartered Colt Technology Services closed its acquisition of US-based Lumen Technologies EMEA business. The deal elevated Colt to one of the world’s largest B2B telecom operators.
In addition to 2,700 new customers from blue chip corporations, leading enterprises and the public sector, Colt added significantly to its network assets.
In total the connectivity options it acquired included 1.6 million km of fibre in 125 cities and 34 countries, 11,000km of metro network, 12 cable landing stations and 10 subsea systems.
“Technology companies that will thrive in the future will be those with scale, adaptability and a strong sense of purpose,” Colt CEO Keri Gilder said.
Optus boss quits following major network outage
A network configuration error that left Australia’s Optus customers without internet access, voice service or even emergency network access for the best part of a day ultimately called the curtain on CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin’s time at the company.
Bayer Rosmarin had been with Optus since March of 2019, coming primarily from a background in banking. She initially served as Deputy CEO and took the top job in April of 2020. She was also in charge during a major data breach last year.
Parent company Singtel are in charge of hiring a new boss, but Optus Chairman Paul O’Sullivan was happy to offer his advice, calling for a CEO with previous telecom experience.
Nokia wins in UK trial vs Oppo
Over the summer, Nokia won all of its arguments in the UK Willingness Trial against Chinese smartphone vendor Oppo, which it had accused of “not playing by the rules” in the UK and beyond.
Nokia alleged that OPPO has been unwilling to renew its license on fair and reasonable and had used its technology without making any royalty payments for two years.
The courtroom drama has continued in China and elsewhere for the rest of the year.
Vestager calls for EU to consolidate telecoms
Right at the start of the year, The European Union’s digital and competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, set out her goal for a “single European telecoms market.
Vestager said her desire for between five and ten telecom operators across the whole of the EU was the only way to create the conditions to guarantee a return on investment.
She descried an excess of competition, that has led to an acceleration of price deflationary dynamics. For example In Australia the entry price for 40 gigabytes of traffic is €30, while in Italy the same allowance is available at €5.
Vestager said that under these conditions the industry is no longer able to remunerate the investments necessary for the construction of the standalone 5G network.
Deutsche Telekom CEO gets buyer's remorse over BT stake
In February Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges said the company’s stake in BT was its biggest mistake.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Höttges said he regretted a 2015 deal that saw Deutsche Telekom take a £5.6bn stake in BT.
“I want my money back,” said Höttges. “It was too early, and I didn’t understand all of the obstacles around BT.”
This is very different from his comment to Capacity five years ago, when he defended his decision to take shares in BT in exchange for Deutsche Telekom’s 50% stake in EE, the mobile operator.
Capacity sources said back in 2015 Höttges and Deutsche Telekom were hatching a plan to acquire BT, but soured on the idea in 2016.
CoreWeave raises $2.3 billion using Nvidia chips
Ethereum-mining turned AI infrastructure company CoreWeave went from virtual unknown to a household name in the GPU computing space this year. A string of headline making deals, partnerships and investments came throughout 2023, as the Nvidia backed company saw demand surge for its compute intensive infrastructure.
The headline that caught everyone’s attention though was its $2.3 billion funding round that used Nvidia H100 chip as collateral, marking just how valuable the hardware required for generative AI is becoming.
Specialized GPU cloud infrastructure is set to grow exponentially in 2024, and Capacity will keep one eye firmly trained on CoreWeave to see what’s next.
Starlink plans 2024 launch for direct to cell SMS
SpaceX backed Starlink announced a number of new services and partnerships in 2023, including in Korea, Japan, Costa Rica and Australia. But it was the Elon Musk owned companies plans to launch a direct to cell service for SMS next year that saw the most interest.
The project was first announced in August of 2022, and sees Starlink partner with T-Mobile in the US.
T-Mobile allow Starlink to use its 5G spectrum, while gaining access to the Starlink network, and thus securing near ubiquitous coverage in the States.
But not everyone in the industry thinks this is for the best. “Starlink continues to set ambitious targets for its satellite network, however, its plans to deliver a direct-to-cell service requires scrutiny. Offering connectivity supported by unmodified 4G handsets might only result in low-bandwidth data and voice services, falling short of contemporary data demands and user experience,” Peter Kibutu, advanced technology lead, NTNs at TTP, a satellite consultancy, told Capacity.
