BUSINESS ANALYSIS FOR TELECOMS PROFESSIONALS DECEMBER 2015 CANDY STORE Hybrid Network_A5.pdf 1 17/12/15 2:54 pm Reap the benefits of flexibility and intelligence of a hybrid network. C M Y CM MY CY CMY K Extend network coverage by combining your private network with the global internet. Get the most out of this cost-effective connection with the intelligent routing ability to «ÌÃi>««V>ÌÃ>`ÌÀ>vwV«iÀvÀ>Vi° www.singtel.com/hybridnetwork [email protected] Copyright © 2015 Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (CRN:199201624D). All rights reserved. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. Posters-A0-Final.indd 2 7/5/15 5:20 pm BUSINESS ANALYSIS FOR TELECOMS PROFESSIONALS NEWS & VIEWS TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS GEOGRAPHY EVENTS A round-up of some Candy Store: The Buck Stops Here: Australia, India and Dates for your diary and of the major stories Telcos and cablecos are Alleged dodgy dealings Denmark: details of the must-attend reported in our daily racing to become the and falling foul of Highlights from the events in the telecoms news service service providers of choice regulators triggers industry’s most interesting industry over the coming www.totaltele.com in a quad-play world management makeovers markets in 2015 months OPINION Geography section), and raised concerns over the future of other planned FOUR PLAY mergers. Brussels is investi- gating tie-ups between 3UK Bundled services are taking off, but an insistence and O2 in the UK, and 3 on network-based competition is blocking M&A Italia and Wind in Italy; both would reduce the number of elecoms in 2015 was spending heavily to build the networks in their respective brought to you by the scale and assets they need to countries to three. Tnumber four. compete. That trend will Regulators further afield Operators the world over continue in 2016, provided also view four as the ideal are getting into quad-play, the regulators allow M&A number for boosting shunning their traditional activity to go ahead. competition. There has been roles as providers of telecoms Four is the magic number talk of licensing a fourth or TV services and restyling for European competition mobile operator in South themselves as digital services commissioner Margrethe Korea and Singapore this companies in order to offer Vestager, who stood in the year, and the world’s consumers the packages of way of Telenor and youngest mobile market bundled–and increasingly TeliaSonera’s merger plan in Myanmar is also working on converged–services they are Denmark this year on the the introduction of a fourth looking for. grounds that the market player. See our News & The expression ‘kid in a needs four mobile network Views section for more on candy store’ seems particu- operators in order to remain those stories and the rest of larly appropriate at this time competitive. That came as a the year’s highlights. of year. While the experience shock, since Danish consum- Mary Lennighan of sifting through myriad ers enjoy some of the lowest [email protected] broadband and TV tariff mobile prices in Europe (see @TelecomEditor plans might not feel to the end user like it warrants such a warm and fuzzy metaphor, the fact remains that consumers have more choice THE INDUSTRY’S BIGGEST than ever when it comes to PLAYERS ARE BUILDING THE procuring digital services. SCALE AND ASSETS THEY As our cover story shows, NEED TO COMPETE some major players are www.totaltele.com A round-up of the major stories in telecoms in 2015, as reported in our daily news service www.totaltele.com IN BRIEF HEADLINE HITTERS BYE BYE C&W LAP OF THE GODS Liberty Global announced a BT has returned to the mobile sector, signing up more than $8.2 billion deal for Cable & 200,000 customers since launching an MVNO service on EE’s Wireless Communications in network in March. The launch came less than a month after November, potentially BT finalised a £12.5 billion takeover of the aforementioned signalling the end of the operator. Presuming the deal passes all the requisite regula- road for one the oldest tory tests–the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) companies in the industry. gave its preliminary blessing in October–the UK incumbent will enter a market in a state of flux. DIRECT DEAL DONE Hong Kong’s Hutchison agreed a £10.25 billion deal in AT&T closed its $48.5 billion March to buy Telefonica’s O2 UK and merge it with 3UK, acquisition of DirecTV. It thereby reducing the number of mobile networks to three plans to launch new integrat- from four and creating a new market leader with around 33 ed products and pricing million customers. However, there are doubts over whether packages in January. the merger will get the nod from the European Commission. The prognosis is not great, given that staunch regulatory VERIZON BUYS AOL opposition led TeliaSonera and Telenor in September to Verizon spent $4.4 billion on abandon plans to merge in Denmark. Hutchison has succeed- the acquisition of AOL, ed in gaining approval for mergers in other European indicating its interest in both markets, but that was during the reign of the EU’s previous its content and advertising competition commissioner, Joaquín Almunia. Ofcom’s new assets. chief executive Sharon White did little settle the nerves. In October, White reiterated the UK regulator’s position that SUBCONTINENTAL MERGERS “four operators is a competitive number that has delivered Consolidation came to the good results to consumers and sustainable returns for Indian subcontinent in companies.” She warned that consolidation in the UK could November. India’s Reliance lead to higher prices and reduced choice for consumers. Communications agreed to take control of Sistema Shyam Teleservices (SSTL), THERE ARE DOUBTS OVER WHETHER while in Pakistan Mobilink THE MERGER WIll GET THE NOD moved for Warid Telecom. DELIVERING CONNECTIVITY FOR BRITAIN’S FUTURE www.totaltele.com/connectedbritain If you provide a solution to xed or mobile connectivity, call Rob Chambers on +44(0)20 7092 1077 or email [email protected] 4 www.totaltele.com BIG NEWS DOWN MEXICO WAY AT&T completed the acquisitions of Iusacell and Nextel in Mexico and has started work integrating the businesses and offering cross-border tariff plans, something its rivals on both sides of the frontier have since emulated. Mexico is also working on a $7 billion shared mobile network project and th plans to auction AWS spectrum in January. On the fixed side 8 March 2016 there was consolidation; conglomerate Alfa inked a deal to Hotel Le Plaza, Brussels combine its Alestra business services operator with fixed-line telco Axtel. 2016 will be an interesting year in Mexico. OPPORTUNITY 4G TAKES OFF IN CHINA AND STRATEGY China Unicom and China Telecom received FDD LTE TO SUPERCHARGE licences this year, enabling them to offer full 4G services. YOUR COPPER China Telecom had almost 44 million 4G customers by the end of September, but Unicom does not share figures. China Mobile, which had a head start, still leads the way though, KEY SPEAKERS INCLUDE with 267.3 million 4G subscribers as of the end of October. Neil McRae, Chief Network Architect, BT BUYING AND SELLING IN CANADA Marcus Grausam, It has been a busy year in Canada. Rogers brokered a C$465 CTO, A1 Telekom Austria million deal for Mobilicity to finally bring consolidation to Carsten Bryder, the mobile market; the telco also gained a data centre with CTO, TDC the acquisition of Internetworking Atlantic. Meanwhile, MTS David Baum, announced the sale of its Allstream business to US fibre CEO, Sckipio operator Zayo also for C$465 million. The country’s opera- Robin Mersh, CEO, Broadband ` Forum tors have also been spending on spectrum. March’s AWS-3 Arne Quist Christensen, auction raised C$2.1 billion, while a 2.5-GHz sale in May Head of Modernization, brought in C$755 million. Telenor Norway AS Daniel Burri, Senior Project Manager, Swisscom REGULATORY HIGHLIGHTS Trevor Linney, Head of Access Network OFCOM MULLS SPLIT AFTIC IN CONTROL Research, BT UK regulator Ofcom is undertaking Argentina’s new telecom regulator Oliver Johnson, a strategic market review, its first AFTIC immediately made its pres- CEO, Point Topic in 10 years, that could lead to the ence felt, blocking Grupo Clarin’s Presented by structural separation of BT’s access Nextel buy in September and the arm, Openreach. sale of Telecom Italia’s Telecom Argentina stake a month later. To find out more and STAYING NEUTRAL secure your place, visit Despite significant opposition, DROPPED CAll BIll www.totaltele.com/copper the US Federal Communications The TRAI ordered India’s mobile Commission’s net neutrality rules operators to compensate users for came into force in June. Protests dropped calls to the tune of 1 rupee continue. (€0.01) per call. 5 www.totaltele.com IN BRIEF BIG NEWS LIGHTSQUARED’S COMEBACK BOARDROOM BLITZ LightSquared finally exited Vivendi is making its presence felt at Telecom Italia. Having Chapter 11 in December and built up a stake of around 20.5% in the Italian incumbent, the brokered a deal with GPS French media group is starting to exert pressure at board providers that should enable level. At a shareholder meeting in December, Vivendi won it to roll out a wholesale the right to appoint four new members to Telecom Italia’s mobile network in the US. board. Vivendi also blocked a savings share conversion plan that would have resulted in the dilution of its stake. CHINA TOWER Vivendi is not the only new Telecom Italia investor that China’s big three telecoms could potentially have a say in its strategy.