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Posters-A0-Final.indd 2 7/5/15 5:20 pm Business analysis for telecoms professionals

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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.

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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. French business- operators transferred their man Xavier Niel–who has built up a long optional position of towers assets into a new joint 15.14%–is monitoring the situation and will “review a wide venture, China Tower. variety of investment considerations,” including Telecom Italia’s operations, assets, prospects and business develop- All change for Oi ment. With mobile consolidation on the horizon due to Wind Oi closed the sale of Portugal and 3 Italia’s proposed merger, and with doubt still hanging Telecom to Altice in June over Telecom Italia’s continued presence in Brazil, there will and by the end of the year be plenty for Vivendi and Niel to think about in 2016. was closing in on TIM Brasil. It is holding exclusive talks with investment group vivendi is making its presence Letter One on the subject. felt at telecom italia

Project Fi Google in April launched its TRENDS WiFi-first Project Fi MVNO service in the US. The IDENTITY CRISIS service uses Sprint and A number of major players in the telecoms space are ending 2015 with a T-Mobile’s cellular networks new identity. For many, the change was driven by a desire to shake off the where WiFi is unavailable. legacy incumbent brand in favour of something more suited to a mobile and multi-screen future. Belgacom became Proximus early in the year, Telecom 5G: It’s official Italia adopted the TIM name for all its retail operations in July, and Greece’s The ITU chose IMT-2020 OTE announced its intention to bring together its fixed, Internet and mobile as its official designation operations under the Cosmote name in September. That same month, for what will one day be Ireland’s Eircom relaunched as Eir for similar reasons; the new name better standardised as 5G. reflects the changing nature of the telecoms industry, it said. For others, a name change came about as a result of M&A. Orange Switzerland became Salt in April, shortly after it was acquired by Xavier Niel. AT&T is in the process of rebranding its newly-acquired Mexican businesses to AT&T. And a year after it took 100% control of its Indian unit, €1.3t n Telenor dropped the Uninor brand in favour of the group monicker. annual revenues It is too early for BT and EE to think about their post-merger brand generated by the though. The question of whether the merged entity will continue with a top 100 telcos multi-brand strategy or adopt a single name will be decided “in due course,” (Total Telecom EE CEO Olaf Swantee said at the Total Telecom Festival in December. “It’s Global 100 2015) quite an important decision, but it’s not an urgent decision.”

6 www.totaltele.com in brief big news

Active Orange Cable mega-deals Orange became sole owner No sooner had Comcast abandoned its $45.2 billion plan to of Spain’s Jazztel and upped acquire Time Warner Cable (TWC) than Charter swept in its stakes in Mobinil in Egypt with a $56.7 billion deal of its own. It is planning a three-way and Morocco’s Meditel. It merger, including Bright House, which it agreed to buy for exited Kenya and Armenia. $10.4 billion earlier in the year. Meanwhile, French cable group Altice is due to arrive in the US, having agreed to Auction issue acquire Suddenlink and Cablevision. It also has half an eye Dish won spectrum in the on Cox Communications. $44.9 billion US AWS-3 spectrum auction, but later FOUR IS THE MAGIC NUMBER handed back some airwaves Four-player mobile markets are proving a key topic of after the FCC ruled it was discussion across Asia. Singapore is due to auction spectrum ineligible for discounts. in various bands in 2016 and regulator the IDA has proposed reserving airwaves for a new entrant. There has also been ON BASE talk of a fourth player in South Korea, where the government Liberty Global’s merger talks is keen to stimulate additional competition. And Myanmar is with Vodafone fell apart, but working on licensing a fourth mobile operator. the US group agreed to buy Belgium’s Base from KPN for Europe embraces 700 MHz €1.33 billion and Ireland’s Germany became the first country in Europe to auction TV3 for €80 million. 700-MHz spectrum, raising just over €1 billion from the sale of 30 MHz of bandwidth to Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and Eurasian ops Telefonica. France followed suit, generating €2.8 billion for TeliaSonera aims to sell its the same amount of spectrum from Orange, Free Mobile, Eurasia operations–partner Bouygues Telecom and SFR. The UK government, mean- Turkcell has made an offer while, pledged to spend £550 million over five years to clear for four of them–and Telenor the 700-MHz band for mobile broadband. The ITU allocated plans to offload its 33% stake 700 MHz for LTE use in Region 1 at WRC-15 in November, in Vimpelcom. thereby globally harmonising the band.

WHAT THE VENDORS DID THIS IS NOT A JV ERICSSON, CISCO BUDDY UP PLATFORM PROBLEMS Nokia announced a €15.6 billion all- Ericsson and Cisco inked a broad Mozilla halted development of its stock deal to acquire Alcatel-Lucent. partnership deal with a view to Firefox OS, Finland’s Jolla filed for The merged entity will be led by creating a one-stop-shop for mobile, debt restructuring, and BlackBerry Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri and much of data centre, and IP network infra- launched its first Android smart- the top management comes from structure, services and back office phone, the Priv. the Finnish side. solutions. No qualcomm carve up HERE GOES THERE chip maker m&A After a strategic review, Qualcomm Nokia completed the sale of its Here Avago Technologies inked a $37 chose not to split its patents busi- mapping business to a group of Ger- billion deal for rival Broadcom. Days ness from its chip maker arm. Sepa- man car makers in December, net- later, Intel made an offer for Altera, rately, it sold 40 MHz of UK L-band ting €2.55 billion in the process. valuing it at $16.7 billion. spectrum to Vodafone and 3.

7 www.totaltele.com Business insight for the global communications industry

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BREAKING NEWS, ARCHIVES, RESEARCH REPORTS, WHITEPAPERS, EVENTS, AWARDS AND MORE Visit www.totaltele.com to subscribe REVIEW OF THE YEAR candy store Telecoms operators and cable companies are racing to become the service providers of choice for consumers in an increasingly quad-play world.

onsumers are faced million households, mainly convince competition with a dizzying array of DirecTV customers without authorities of the benefits of Ctelecoms and television an AT&T mobile service or the deal, Comcast has turned services to choose from, at a AT&T customers without its attention to mobility. price to suit every wallet. either U-verse or DirecTV Comcast and satellite And increasingly they are video subscriptions. provider Dish Network were opting to buy all those Early 2016 will bring new both linked with T-Mobile services from a single offerings from the merged US this year, both being provider, triggering a major entity. “Within the next 30 keen to add a mobile string shift in the telecoms days you’re going to see us to their bow, although landscape. announce some new takeover talk has come to The trend towards capabilities, some new nothing...so far. Perhaps a multi-play services gathered integrated products and more likely route for pace this year, leading pricing that will bring Comcast would be the telecoms providers to spend together a really premium virtual one; Comcast has a big to acquire the requisite content package with a really longstanding mobile virtual capabilities. But they are not premium wireless asset,” network operator (MVNO) the only storeholders looking AT&T chief executive agreement with Verizon and to bundle up their wares. Randall Stephenson said in towards the end of the year The traditional TV providers December. appeared set to trigger it. are making their presence But the cablecos are not An MVNO makes sense felt on the digital services resting on their laurels, when for Comcast, said AT&T’s high street, giving consum- it comes to both scale and Stephenson, particularly ers more options than ever. the multi-play opportunity. given its ambitions in the The world’s biggest Charter Communications enterprise space. “They need telecoms operator by this year agreed to pay $10.4 it,” he said. But he is uncon- revenues, AT&T, is now billion for Bright House cerned about its potential competing as much–if not Networks and $56.7 billion impact in the consumer more–with the US cable for Time Warner Cable sector. “Competing in that industry as with its peers in (TWC) and is working on a market without owners’ the telecoms space. It closed plan to merge the three into economics is a tough pool,” its $48.5 billion acquisition of a single entity that will be he said. “It’s going to be satellite TV provider the second biggest cableco in tough for MVNOs to come DirecTV in July, giving it the the US after Comcast. The into this space.” largest TV customer base in market leader’s attempted The US is still an the country. It immediately $45.2 billion takeover of attractive market for launched its All-in-One TWC fell apart early in 2015 newcomers though. France’s converged TV and mobile after failing to win regula- Altice announced its tariff and set about exploit- tory support. That could also impending arrival with a $9.1 ing the cross-selling be an issue for Charter, but billion agreement to buy opportunity that it put at 39 while it is working hard to regional cable operator 9 www.totaltele.com Suddenlink in May. It itself at the centre of M&A €80 million for free-to-air followed that up just four speculation; Orange and TV broadcaster TV3, closing months later with a $17.7 Bouygues denied reports that the deal in December. “We billion bid for east coast they were holding merger have some exciting plans in cableco Cablevision. talks in late 2015. the pipeline to step up Altice has deep pockets Altice was also linked competition for consumers,” and in addition to its cable with Dutch telco KPN this said Virgin Media CEO Tom operations it owns a number year. It admitted such a deal Mockridge, alongside the of traditional telecoms assets might make sense–it owns rebrand. in Europe. It created a strong cable operations in Belgium Competition is certainly multi-player in France when and Luxembourg–but said building in Ireland. it acquired mobile operator the pair were not in talks. Incumbent operator Eir, SFR late last year and this Ambitious Altice is not which ditched the Eircom year picked up Portugal the only cable operator brand to signal the start of Telecom–which operates in a driving industry change in its digital future, announced relatively mature quad-play Europe. US-based Liberty the acquisition of sports market–from Brazil’s Oi. All Global was once again at the broadcaster Setanta Sports of which means the industry forefront of M&A activity. It Ireland, a deal CEO Richard is left wondering how it will hit the headlines mid-year Moat described as an seek to leverage that after admitting to asset “important first step for us experience in the US. merger talks with Vodafone, in television content Altice in September although such a deal was ownership.” Meanwhile, indicated that it will pause its always going to be difficult Vodafone’s Irish unit said it shopping spree, although it to structure and the negotia- would enter the quad-play noted that it could change its tions came to nothing. market with the launch of a mind if another cable player, It had more success TV service this year, but at Cox Communications, were elsewhere though. Its Belgian the time of writing it had yet to become available. It also Telenet unit agreed a €1.33 to materialise. However, the pointed out that this hiatus billion deal for KPN’s Base in telco did launch Siro, a could last anywhere from a April, and in November fibre-to-the-premises few months to a few years, so signed two separate deals to (FTTP) network developed don’t be surprised if it is sell off some of Base’s mobile with electricity provider hitting the headlines customers to Medialaan, ESB, in November. stateside again in 2016. turning the Flemish TV and Across the Irish sea, the radio station operator into a British arm of quad-player European tour full MVNO, in a bid to win Virgin Media embarked Altice also made its presence the backing of competition upon its £3 billion network felt on the European side of regulators. The European infill plan, known as Project the Atlantic this year. Commission is conducting Lightning. Vodafone rolled Following the creation of an in-depth investigation out a fixed broadband and Numericable-SFR, Altice into the deal, fearing it could home phone service across made a move for rival player harm competition, and is due the UK. And satellite TV Bouygues Telecom, which is to make a decision by March. and broadband provider Sky struggling to hang on to Meanwhile, Liberty announced it will start third place in France’s Global’s Irish cable operator offering mobile services in four-player mobile market. UPC–which adopted the 2016 via an MVNO agree- Bouygues rejected the offer, Virgin Media brand used by ment with Telefonica. which reportedly came in at its parent company in the UK incumbent BT has €10 billion, but still finds UK this year–agreed to pay been building up its presence 10 www.totaltele.com in the television space for a QUAD-PLAY M&A couple of years and this year picked up additional Spain heats up premium sports rights, Orange became the sole owner of Spain’s Jazztel this summer, enabling including Premier League it to compete against multi-service operators Telefonica and Vodafone. football and cricket’s Ashes tournament, and launched a Telekom Austria adds assets range of new sports Telekom Austria acquired Amis, a provider of fixed-line telephony, broad- channels. band and IPTV services in Slovenia and Croatia, giving its Slovenian mobile BT has now turned its operator Si.mobil a fixed-line arm, and boosting its fixed and mobile opera- attention to mobility. It tions in Croatia. It also bought cable operator Blizoo Bulgaria to bulk up its agreed to pay £12.5 billion Mobiltel business. for the UK’s biggest mobile operator EE in February and CARIBBEAN CABLE CONSOLIDATION is currently working through Cable & Wireless paid $1.85 billion for Barbados-based Columbus Inter- the practical and regulatory national in April and started work integrating the two businesses. But just hurdles to closing that deal. six months later, C&W itself agreed to an $8.2 billion takeover offer from The Communications and Liberty Global. Markets Authority (CMA) gave its preliminary approval SHAW SHORES UP in October, noting that it Canadian cable operator Shaw Communications is diversifying. The firm does not believe the tie-up announced a C$1.6 billion (€1 billion) takeover deal for mobile network will impact on competition. operator Wind Mobile in December. BT also launched an MVNO using EE’s network in March, It is by no means certain knock-on effect for other enabling it to bundle that the deal will be ap- ongoing M&A deals. low-cost mobile services with proved though. The Hutchison is involved in its TV and broadband European Commission’s more than one. In August it offerings and to push its competition arm is conduct- inked a deal with Vimpelcom content to the small screen. ing an investigation and has that will see the pair merge until 18 April to rule on the their Italian operations–3 M&A MElee case. The parties directly Italia and Wind respectively– While the BT/EE merger involved in the deal are into a 50:50 joint venture seems to be ticking the right doubtless hoping that valued at €21.8 billion. The regulatory boxes, the path competition commissioner resulting entity will be “a might not be as smooth for Margrethe Vestager meant convergent player that will Hong Kong’s Hutchison, what she said earlier this year accelerate the ability to which hopes to acquire when she insisted that “every invest in the network, Telefonica’s UK mobile case has to be assessed on its services and digital innova- operation O2 and merge it own facts and merits.” tions,” said Vimpelcom CEO with 3UK. If it gets the That comment came after Jean-Yves Charlier. go-ahead for its £10.25 billion the Commission refused to Wind is the second largest deal, the tie-up will create back TeliaSonera and fixed-line player in Italy, the largest mobile operator Telenor’s plan to merge their behind Telecom Italia, whose in the UK. However, the mobile operators in market share has fallen merged entity will still lack a Denmark, famously causing below 60%, according to the fixed-line presence, which the pair to abandon the deal latest figures from regulator could leave it at a serious in September. It remains to Agcom. Wind and 3 Italia disadvantage going forward. be seen if there will be a together served 33.5% of the 11 www.totaltele.com Italian mobile market as of real desire to fundamentally America Movil is still mid-year, putting them just change Telecom Italia’s desperately seeking a licence over a percentage point domestic strategy, but its to provide television services ahead of Telecom Italia. operations in Brazil could be in its home market, but it is Telecom Italia is also a different matter. Vivendi having difficulty convincing re-orienting itself as a acquired its initial Telecom the regulator. In its third multi-player. It adopted the Italia stake as part of a deal quarter results announce- TIM mobile brand across all to sell its Brazilian broad- ment it pointed out that it is its retail operations in July to band operator GVT to facing intense competitive simplify its relationship with Telefonica. pressure from two big the consumer. Merging GVT with its players–AT&T and The Italian incumbent Vivo mobile operation gave Telefonica–and should welcomed a new major Telefonica a multi-play therefore be relieved of shareholder this year in position in Brazil and left asymmetric regulation and French media group Vivendi, Telecom Italia’s TIM Brasil approved to offer pay TV. which pledged “to support as the only one of the AT&T is a newcomer to [it] over the long term and to country’s big four mobile Mexico, having closed the develop its activities in operators without a fixed- acquisitions of mobile southern Europe.” As the line presence. Thus specula- operators Iuscell and Nextel year progressed and new tion over TIM’s ability to in the first half of this year. Telecom Italia shareholders survive as a standalone entity It immediately set about emerged–Xavier Niel and JP continued in 2015. Local launching cross-border plans Morgan have built up player Oi in October revealed to tempt in new customers and is also in the process of introducing the AT&T brand A CONVERGENT PLAYER WILL to Mexico on a market-by- ACCELERATE THE ABILITY TO INVEST market basis alongside its LTE network rollout. positions of just over 15% it will hold exclusive talks To bring things full and 10% respectively–it with investment group circle, AT&T also gained a became clear that Vivendi Letter One over the possi- presence elsewhere in Latin intends to have some say in bilty of merging with TIM, America through the the telco’s strategy. At a but TIM is not involved in DirecTV deal, which brought shareholder meeting in the discussions and Telecom extensive pay TV businesses December it won the right to Italia has repeatedly insisted in markets including Brazil, appoint four new members it sees its Brazilian business Mexico, Argentina and to the operator’s board, as core. others. It seems unlikely that including three of its own TIM is the second largest AT&T will hold on to those top management, and mobile operator in Brazil. operations in the long term, blocked a savings share But with America Movil although there will be no conversion plan that would controlling 52% of Brazil’s quick sale due to the have resulted in the dilution pay TV market and 32% of economic climate, CEO of its stake in the company. its broadband sector, and Oi Stephenson explained Vivendi holds around 20.5% and Telefonica having big recently. “They are single of Telecom Italia. broadband presences and product companies and that’s some pay TV share, it is not terribly exciting to us.” Brazilian STANDOFF difficult to see TIM surviv- Mary Lennighan Analysts for the most part ing in its current form for [email protected] agree that Vivendi has no much longer. @TelecomEditor 12 www.totaltele.com Business insight for the global communications industry

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BREAKING NEWS, ARCHIVES, RESEARCH REPORTS, WHITEPAPERS, EVENTS, AWARDS AND MORE Visit www.totaltele.com to subscribe people the buck stops here Alleged dodgy dealings and falling foul of regulators prompted some hasty management makeovers in 2015

f management changes Espen. Two former nominees Depending on the have taught us anything in to Vimpelcom’s supervisory outcome of the various I2015, it’s that not every board–Fridtjof Rusten and investigations, 2016 could senior telecoms executive Ole Bjørn Sjulstad–were also well see more senior figures gets to bow out gracefully. suspended. The suspensions at Telenor and Vimpelcom Just ask Telenor, which will stand “until the facts bow out. bid a fond farewell to have been established” South Africa-based MTN long-serving CEO Jon Telenor said. was forced into a hasty Fredrik Baksaas in August. Amidst the fallout, management makeover this The Norwegian telco kept Telenor put its Vimpelcom year when its Nigerian unit Baksaas on in an advisory stake up for sale, valuing it at was slapped with a $5.2 capacity while his replace- €2.1 billion. “The sales billion fine for failing to ment Sigve Brekke got to process has been initiated,” disconnect 5.1 million grips with his new role, but but it will be an orderly unregistered SIM cards in was forced to sever all ties process “that will take some accordance with the with him just four months time,” Brekke said in Nigerian Communications later as the corruption October. “[Telenor is] not Commission’s (NCC’s) investigation in Uzbekistan going to do any fire sale.” timeline. The fallout brought made his position untenable. Vimpelcom executives a premature end to the Vimpelcom–in which have by no means escaped tenure of MTN chief Telenor holds 33%–is being unscathed. Former CEO Jo executive Sifiso Dabengwa, probed by US and Dutch Lunder, who left the Russian who had been in the top job authorities over bribery telco in April, was arrested since late 2010. His interim allegations linked with its and charged with corruption. replacement, former CEO Uzbekistan business partner He was also one of several Phuthuma Nhleko, negoti- Takilant. executives named in a class ated a reduction in the fine “The situation [is] very action lawsuit filed by to $3.9 billion, but towards unfortunate, complex and Vimpelcom shareholders in the end of the year the telco sad for the company,” said the US; current CEO revealed it is taking legal Baksaas. “It is vital that Jean-Yves Charlier and CFO action to challenge the Telenor’s management and Andrew Davies were also on authority of the NCC in board of directors now have the list. imposing the penalty. room to handle the situation effectively.” The scandal also saw off Telenor’s chairman Svein Aaser–he was replaced by banker Gunn Wærsted– the sales process has and brought about the been initiated...it will temporary suspension of take some time. there CFO Richard Olav Aa and will be no fire sale general counsel Pål Wien 14 www.totaltele.com announced his retirement. Telekom Austria also got a new CEO in America over three years...We Movil-backed Alejandro expect to have invested Plater, as Hannes Ametsreiter over A$5 billion into hopped across the border to Telstra’s mobile network become CEO of Vodafone Germany. In the vendor space, the Unsurprisingly, MTN include upping spending on biggest change came at Cisco Nigeria CEO Michael Ikpoki, Telstra’s mobile network by in May, when John Chambers and regulatory head A$500 million (€329 million) retired after a 20-year stint Akinwale Goodluck, also and reorganising senior as CEO. Chambers and his waved goodbye. management. “Over three replacement Chuck Robbins Hoping to turn things years to June 2017, we expect both had a hand in the around at another scandal- to have invested more than strategic partnership struck hit telco is Ahmad Farroukh, A$5 billion into Telstra’s by Cisco and Ericsson in who took the helm at Mobily mobile network,” he said. November. Meanwhile, in July. His predecessor A number of other big Nokia’s €15.6 billion acquisi- Khalid Omar Al Kaf was players welcomed new tion of Alcatel-Lucent suspended by the Saudi leaders this year. China signalled the end of Michel Arabian operator in Mobile named a new Combes’ tenure as CEO of November 2014 amidst an chairman in Shang Bing, a the latter. He was snapped up investigation into its former vice minister at the by acquisitive cable conglom- accounting practices, and Ministry of Industry and erate Altice, which appointed was formally removed from Information Technology him chief operating officer his position in February. (MIIT), replacing Xi Guohua. and chairman of its French Not everyone who left Meanwhile, its domestic mobile arm SFR. their job in 2015 left under a rivals played a round of Finally, there were also a cloud though. executive musical chairs; couple of noteworthy David Thodey retired as Wang Xiaochu stepped down re-hires this year. In Telstra CEO in August to be as chairman and CEO of February, Charlie Ergen replaced by CFO Andrew China Telecom, taking the announced he would once Penn. During his tenure, helm at China Unicom, while again take the top job at US Thodey negotiated two China Unicom chairman and satellite TV provider Dish, definitive agreements with CEO Chang Xiaobing went the company he co-founded, NBN, both of which had the opposite way. while Canada’s Telus significant consequences for Elsewhere, Turkcell reappointed Darren Telstra’s copper network, and named Kaan Terzioglu as Entwistle as CEO in August. oversaw the deployment of permanent replacement to He replaced Joe Natale, who the operator’s LTE networks. Sureyya Ciliv, who resigned left after 18 months after Thodey’s achievements were in January; Ooredoo CEO declining to ship his family recognised at Total Telecom’s Nasser Marafih was appoint- across the country. It’s hard Asia Communication Awards ed to the board, naming to believe, but it seems that in June, where he scooped company insider Saud bin for some people, there is the coveted CEO of the year Nasser al Thani as his more to life than telecoms. award. successor; and in the Nick Wood Penn got straight to work. Philippines, PLDT and Smart [email protected] His early achievements CEO Napoleon Nazareno @Telecolumnist 15 www.totaltele.com World Communication Awards

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS…

BEST BRAND CAMPAIGN THE CONNECTED WORLD INITIATIVE Ooredoo - Simply Do Wonders Jasper - Control Center

BEST BROADBAND ACCESS SERVICE DIGITAL EXPERIENCE AWARD HKT - FTTH on Demand Ooredoo Qatar - Mozaic GO App

BEST CUSTOMER CARE INNOVATION AWARDS: OPERATOR TeliaSonera International Carrier PCCW Global - Threat Management Service BEST ENTERPRISE SERVICE Singtel - Managed Hybrid Network INNOVATION AWARD: VENDOR GENBAND - Kandy BEST MOBILE PRODUCT Singtel - Dash THE USERS’ CHOICE Orange Business Services BEST NETWORK OPERATIONS INITIATIVE BEST WHOLESALE CARRIER Eirteic - Eircom project NTT Communications

BEST OPERATOR IN AN EMERGING BEST MOBILE OPERATOR MARKET Smart Communications Telemor BEST GLOBAL OPERATOR BEST SMALL BUSINESS SERVICE AT&T AT&T - SMB product portfolio CTO OF THE YEAR SOCIAL CONTRIBUTION AWARD Matthew Finnie - Interoute Ooredoo - mobile health clinics CEO OF THE YEAR CLOUD INFRASTRUCTURE AWARD Timotheus Hottges - Deutsche Telekom CITIC Telecom CPC - SmartCLOUD

For information on the World Communication Awards 2016, visit www.worldcommsawards.com or email [email protected] geography: australia

heading for orbit debate down Satellite will play a big role in NBN’s multi-technology mix plan, extend- ing coverage to the hardest-to-reach under parts of Australia. The first satellite launched in October, and from April The national broadband network re- 2016 will provide broadband coverage mains a political football in Australia to up to 400,000 rural users. As of mid-2015, the network passed 1.15 million premises, with just over 485,000 activations. Under the A$56b n corporate plan, NBN aims to cover 9.1 required to build out million premises by mid-2018. the national broadband network (Australian progress of nbn government) 1,400,000 n Homes activated n Homes passed

1,200,000

1,000,000

800,000

600,000 premises 400,000

200,000

0 June 2013 June 2014 June 2015 Source: NBN

he debate about the satellite, and in future, government revealed that the future of Australia’s G.fast. total spend to build the T NBN raged on in 2015, However, the opposition network will come in at A$46 and remains strongly divided Labor Party has its own billion-A$56 billion. In along political lines. interpretation of MTM: addition, according to Malcolm Turnbull, who ‘Malcolm Turnbull’s Mess’. shadow communications began the year as communi- The reworked network is minister Jason Clare, cations minister for the running behind schedule. It anecdotal evidence suggests ruling Liberal Party and was forecast to cost A$41 that engineers are having to ended it as prime minister of billion (€26.1 billion)–com- replace more of Telstra’s the whole country, pushed pared to the previous aging copper network than on with his multi-technolo- government’s estimate of first thought. Clare summed gy-mix (MTM) strategy, A$43 billion for its FTTP-led it up thusly: “Massively over which, as the name suggests, network–A$29.5 billion of budget, behind schedule, a favours a pragmatic approach which would come from the raft of broken promises, an to infrastructure technology, public purse and the rest unrealistic rollout plan...and encompassing fibre-to-the-x from the private sector. dodgy copper that needs to (FTTx), HFC, fixed wireless, However, this summer the be fixed.” 17 www.totaltele.com geography: india carrot and stick India’s telecom regulators continued to make their presence felt in 2015

he events of 2015 will agreed to acquire smaller lead to a dramatic rival Sistema, while Idea T reshaping of India’s Cellular struck a deal to buy telecoms sector over the spectrum from Videocon. coming years. The introduc- India’s authorities have tion of regulations permit- also wielded the stick ting spectrum trading and though, announcing a THe [deal] WILL sharing will help mobile dropped-call compensation GENERATE signifi- operators to improve scheme. Telcos have com- cant CAPEX AND network quality and for some plained that the scheme will will provide an escape route punish them for problems OPEX SYNERGIES out of the market altogether. that are often out of their Gurdeep Singh, Indeed, in November, control but so far regulators RCom Reliance Communications have been unmoved.

no sale mobile market shares Despite intense competition and 5% 2% 24% high demand for spectrum among 8% privately-owned mobile operators, India’s government still has no 8% Bharti Airtel 24% Vodafone 19% 997m plans to sell off loss-making state- Idea Cellular 17% mobile users Reliance Comms 11% 6% Tata 6% in india at run players BSNL and MTNL. Local Aircel 8% BSNL 8% end-september press reported in December that Telenor 5% Others 2% 2015 the government is seeing positive (TRAI) signs from the telcos’ turnaround 11% 19% plan, and that a sale is off the table. 17% Source: TRAI

18 www.totaltele.com geography: denmark under pressure Denmark has some of the lowest prices available on the continent. setting a According to Danish telecoms consultant John Strand, unlimited voice, SMS and data can be precedent had for as little as €13-€15 per month. With such low ARPUs and Denmark could set the tone for the European a population of just 5.6 million, it Commission’s stance on consolidation is unclear how much longer the market can sustain four players. eliaSonera and Telenor the remedies offered by Telia abandoned plans to and Telenor, whose merger mobile market shares T merge their Danish would have reduced the 38% operations due to staunch number of big operators to 24% regulatory opposition, three from four, were not sending shockwaves through sufficient to avoid harming Bharti Airtel 24% the industry, throwing other competition. With the 3Vodafone Denmark 19% 13% Idea TCeliaellular 17% 17% RelianceTelenor Coms 24% 11% proposed M&As in Europe Commission due to issue a 6% TTDCata 38%6% AOircelthers 8% 8% into doubt. European decision on O2/3UK by 18 BSNL 8% Telenor 5% competition commissioner April, the industry won’t Others 2% Margrethe Vestager insists have long to wait before it 17% that deals will be judged on learns if Denmark is a blip 8% their own merits, and that or a portentous precedent. 13% Source: Danish Energy Agency 68% decline IN MOBILE PRICES OVER THE PAST 10 YEARS (Danish Energy Agency)

What the parties offered was not sufficient to avoid harm to competition Margrethe Vestager

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