Eutelsat rejects takeover bid from Altice owner
Eutelsat has turned down a takeover offer from French businessman Patrick Drahi, probably because his bid was not large enough to warrant further discussion.
Telecoms.com
France
Paris transport firm wins €500m fibre deal
The operator of public transport in Paris has netted a contract worth €500 million to roll out and run fibre in and around the French capital.
Eurobites: Telecom Italia sees earnings slide 5.8% in Q2
Also in today’s EMEA regional round-up: Arcep consults on 5G interference; Vodafone ads rapped; Spotify hits bum note on MAUs.
Orange assembles magnificent seven for fully automated network trial
French operator group Orange got some of its mates together to build what it claims is Europe’s first 5G SA fully end-to-end experimental cloud network.
Orange invests €30 million in worthy start-ups
Orange Ventures has set up a new investment vehicle to back what could probably best be described as ‘worthy cause’ start-ups, giving it €30 million of funding to dole out.
French rail operator latest to get into fibre
French rail network operator SNCF has officially launched a new subsidiary that will see it break into the market for wholesale fibre connectivity.
Altice buys half a French MVNO
Altice France plans to acquire Afone Participations, a provider of telecoms and electronic payments services that holds a 50% stake in a medium-sized MVNO.
Orange mulls buying back infrastructure assets to boost TOTEM
Orange is reportedly considering buying back an infrastructure asset it sold almost two decades ago to boost its recently-created TOTEM towers business.
Orange launches affordable satellite broadband service in France
Nordnet, the satellite broadband business owned by Orange, has officially launched its satellite broadband service in France.
Altice slashes French jobs as it feels investment pinch
The Covid-19 pandemic has increased demand for telecoms services so, counterintuitively, Altice France plans to cut as much as 11% of its workforce this year.
Orange’s TOTEM smaller than expected
Orange has finally announced the creation of an independent European towers company but the new business will have fewer assets than we might have expected.
France wants more power to censor social media
As the EU works to refine its massive Digital Services Act, France is publicly lobbying for greater national censorship powers and for more content to be made illegal.
Cellnex pays way more for French towers than KKR did two years ago
Cellnex is at it again. The Spanish infrastructure specialist has brokered a €5.2 billion deal to acquire Altice’s French towers portfolio which it plans to finance via a sizeable capital hike.
French football rights failure suggests content clamour could be cooling
France’s football governing body has failed to sell off a premium packages of content rights to top-flight games, not due to lack of interest, but because the interested parties declined to meet its reserve price.
Orange and Free fail to agree on network sharing
French MNOs Orange and Free Mobile have been chatting about forming a network sharing agreement, but it came to nothing.
New Arcep chief calls for ‘affordable’ fixed and mobile services
Laure de la Raudière is officially the new chair of French telecoms regulator Arcep.
Orange to raise €1bn-plus from sale of new rural fibre unit
Orange has created a new business unit to house its fibre operations in rural France and has agreed to sell half of that entity to investors in a deal that should raise well over €1 billion.
France doles out €420m in FTTH aid with more to follow
The French government will support fibre rollout in nearly a dozen tricky areas of the country to the tune of €420 million, it announced this week.
Bouygues throws down the gauntlet to SFR
Bouygues Telecom wants to be France’s second-largest mobile operator by 2026.
Orange Ventures legal separation is official
Orange has spun off its investment fund arm into a separate legal entity renamed as Orange Ventures with €350 million worth of start-up investments.
Events
MVNOs World & IoT World Connectivity Summit
- 02-03 November 2021
- View Event
Telco AI World Summit
- 02-04 November 2021
- View Event
Open RAN World
- 03-04 November 2021
- View Event
The 'right' to fast internet: fairy-tale or reality? An increasing number of countries are passing laws making fast hhttps://t.co/0lVSuBNnT3
18 October 2021 @ 15:39:53 UTC
The @telecoms podcast returns this week from #BBWF with special analyst guest @dariotalmesio on the show itself, m hthttps://t.co/lvSeo1pQcM
18 October 2021 @ 14:42:15 UTC
Rakuten Mobile buys into the towers business. Rakuten Mobile is acquiring a stake in towers operator JTower, a move hhttps://t.co/3mjHdR8jxv
18 October 2021 @ 13:39:18 UTC