Saturday, June 20, 2020

Week 25 in Telecoms, Internet & Media

CORPORATE

Liberty Global
Sees some logic in Benelux combination (VodafoneZiggo + Telenet)

Orange
Considers expansion in Africa to Nigeria, S Africa
Appeals Court upholds EUR 249m fine in case from Digicel (Caribbean)

Telefonica
EU approves studio 50/50 JV (Buendía Estudios) with Atresmedia

Telia
Plans to sell indirect Turkcell stake (47.1% of 51%), $530m - Sells stake to Turkey Wealth Fund, $530m

Sunrise
Acquires Wilmaa (OTT-TV tech, 10 employees)

Molotov
Establishes Molotov Solutions: buisness services division

Epic Games
Bloomberg: Epic Games (makes Fortnite) raises $750m at $17b valuation from T Rowe Price, Baillie Gifford, KKR

Palantir
Raises $500m from Sompo (insurer Japan)

Alphabet
ACCC (Australia) issues objections against Fitbit acquisition [see 191101]: build an even more comprehensive set of user data, further cementing its position and raising barriers to entry to potential rivals; feedback by 200710, decision by 200813
Launches Keen (developend by Area 120 & People and AI Research (PAIR) team): app (for Web & Android) to curate content around topics [a la Pinterest]

Amazon
Needham on media assets (Prime Video, Twitch, music, media ads): rev 2020E $66.7b, value $333b (or $500b = 38% of EV incl 1.5x hidden value multiple)

Facebook
Acquires Mapillary (Sweden): crowdsourced database of street-level imagery

NETWORKS

Fibre
Fibrus targets 145k FTTP premises by YE 2025, GBP 85m
KCOM raises GBP 30m debt from Lloyds Bank

HFC
Virgin Media UK raises max speed to 600 Mb/s (with TV); launches 516/36 service (over Docsis 3.0) as stand-alone (without TV)

Mobile
Rumor: gvt DE to invest EUR 1.1b in dead spot coverage

5G
M1 (Singapore) trials 5G for unmanned aircraft, with Airbus, Infocomm (IMDA), Port Authority, TeamOne Technologies (modem)
MTN (SA) plans 5G based on DSS and 3.5 GHz band after temporary spectrum is retracted; core network is Release 15 compliant; current temporrary service accessible for 4G subs at no extra cost
AT&T expands 5G (850 MHz band) to 137 new markets (total 327, 160m covered pops), target nationwide summer 2020; 5G+ network (39 GHz band) in 35 cities
Verizon plans laptop (Lenovo Flex 5G) for 5G UWB; also China Mobile, Sunrise, EE (BT)
Qualcomm launches Snapdragon 690: midrange 5G processor
Telekom DE reaches 12k 5G antennas in >1000 towns, 16m covered pops (target 40m = 50% mid july 2020, 40k antennas YE 2020); acquires 10 MHz additional 3G spectrum; reaches 1 Gb/s in 3.5 GHz band; 4G to 5G RAN upgrade with Ericsson & Huawei - Launches campaign (With 5G, nothing separates us anymore)
5G Blueprint (5G research project) launched by 28 partners from NL, BE, CH, CZ (KPN, Telenet, Eurofiber etc); EUR 10m grant from EU's Horizon 2020 program
EC adds 11 new projects under 5G-PPP venture, to launch Sep 2020 (total investment: EUR 400m + EUR 1b from private companies)
O2 CZ plans 5G launch July 2020 in Kolin, Prague, Vinohrady, Nusle, Dejvice, Bubenec with 50 base stations, in 3.7 GHz band, max 600/100 Mb/s
T-Mobile US focuses on 600 MHz and 2.5 GHz bands
Telus launches 5G (NSA, max 1.7 Gp/s) in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto; to add 26 markets by YE 2020; no additional cost for unlimited subs; with smartphones (Samsung Galaxy 5G S20, LG V60 ThinQ 5G, Motorola Edge+); with Nokia, Ericsson, Samsung

Network sharing
Vodafone UK connects Devauden (Wales) under Shared Rural Network initiative [see 200120]
Rumor: Slovak Telekom & Orange Slovensko consider shared FTTH network (currently 680k and 526k FTTH HP)

Performance
Ookla Speedtest Global Index (May 20): global average FBB 77/41 Mb/s, MBB 34/11 Mb/s; FBB: Sing #1 (205 Mb/s), HK #2 (183), Thailand #3 (170), RO #4 (159), CH #5 (156), NL #24 (113); MBB: SK #1 (100), UAE #2 (100), China #3 (97), Qatar #1 (89), NL #5 (74)

SERVICES

Fox no deal with Ziggo yet; Ziggo: cost would triple to >EUR 100m [= 2.6 EUR/sub/mo incl BTW based on 3.86m subs], currently 10% pay for Eredivisie Live [10.1 EUR/mo/paying sub incl BTW based on 350k paying subs paying EUR 35m], proposes same fee for Fox as currently

ViacomCBS plans CBS All Access relaunch 2021 as 'super service', with 15k hr of Viacom & CBS content added, total 15k hr (currently 15k hr)

Discovery considers D2C strategy    


Spotify content deal with Kim Kardashian for podcasts in Innocence Project - Partners with DC Comics & Warner Bros for exclusive podcasts

Sky IT launches Sky WiFi over Open Fiber FTTH (1 Gb/s down, 300 Mb/s up) in 26 cities, with hub from Comcast; 3P (voice, BB, Sky Q TV) in 3 tiers: Sky Wifi Smart 30 EUR/mo (FTTH, TV, calls on a per minute basis; activation fee EUR 49), Sky Wifi Ultra 33 EUR/mo (same conditions plus Sky Wifi Pods mesh network, EUR 99 activation fee), or Sky Wifi Ultra Plus 38 EUR/mo (with unlimited national calls to fixed & mobile, EUR 99 activation fee)    

VodafoneZiggo launches virtual concert hall Larger Than Live (at largerthan.live), with Mojo; first concert 200709 from Ziggo Dome, 11 EUR/ticket    

WhatsApp launches mobile payments (based on Facebook Pay, secured by 6-digit PIN or fingerprint) in Brazil (after trial in India): free payments & transfers, charges 3.99% for selling businesses - WhatsApp Web to add voice calls

Trials feature (voice tweets) to add audio (max 140 sec) to tweet

Tencent plans smart city in Shenzhen: Net City, 2m m², with NBBJ (architect Seattle)

REGULATORY

EU launches antitrust investigations into Apple Pay (terms, conditions and other measures for integrating Apple Pay in merchant apps and websites on iPhones and iPads, Apple's limitation of access to the NFC functionality (“tap and go”) on iPhones for payments in stores, and alleged refusals of access to Apple Pay) over distortion of competition & reduction of choice & innovation - And into Apple App Store (mandatory use of Apple's own proprietary in-app purchase system and restrictions on the ability of developers to inform iPhone and iPad users of alternative cheaper purchasing possibilities outside of apps; concerns the application of these rules to all apps, which compete with Apple's own apps and services) over distortion of competition for music streaming services on Apple's devices; follows complaints from Spotify and anon e-book/audiobook distributor [Rakuten]; Apple charges companies 30% from in-app purchases and 30% on subscriptions for the first year, then 15% thereafter - No legal deadline

WTO rules that Saudi Arabian gvt actively promoted and supported the beoutQ pirate operation since the beginning



at 12:02 pm
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