Monday, September 07, 2020

Week 36 in Telecoms, Internet, Media

NETWORKS 

Fixed/FTTP

  • Cable.co.uk & M-Lab: Worldwide Broadband Speed League (551m speed tests in 221 countries): #1 Liechtenstein (media downlaod speed 230 Mb/s), #2 Jersey (218), #3 Andorra (213), #4 Gibraltar (183), #5 Luxemburg (118), #11 NL (96)
  • TIM approves establishment of FiberCop, KKR taking stake (37.5% for EUR 1.8b based on equity value EUR 4.7b, EV EUR 7.7b), Fastweb (Swisscom) to own 4.5% for including Flash Fiber stake, TIM to own 58%, to close 21Q1; TIM to be exclusive provider of construction & maintenance; FiberCop to employ 100 FTE
  • Telefonica: Telefonica ES plans copper switch-off by 2025
  • FR adds $240m to rural fiber program (2013) 

Mobile/5G

Launches

  • Singtel launches 5G trial (first 20k subs free, additional pay 10 SID/mo extra): 2.1 & 3.5 GHz bands, NSA, max >1 Gb/s, with smartphones
  • Telefonica ES launches 5G, target coverage 75% YE 2020: NSA, DSS, in 3.5, 1.8/2.1 GHz bands
  • DirecTV Colombia (= AT&T;owns 2×15 MHz of FDD-LTE & 40 MHz TD-LTE spectrum in 2600MHz band) launches FWA over 5G in Bogota, max 100 Mb/s
  • SmarTone (HK) adds FWA over 5G service, 150 HKD/mo ($19)
  • Lao Telecommunications Company (LTC) launches 5G in Vientiane
  • Telia DK and Telenor DK to launch 5G end Sep 2020

Expansion

Technology

CPE

Network equipment

Regulatory



SERVICES

Telco bundles
  • EE (BT) launches The Full Works Plan for iPhone: unlimited mobile data, iPhone upgrade anytime, access to Apple Music, Apple TV+ & Apple Arcade; add-ons: BT Sport Ultimate app 
  • Sunrise resells Samsung Sero (Lifestyle TV, 43 inch, rotates between horizontal & vertical orientation), 71 CHF/mo for 24 mo for BB subs; as part of accessory plans (also: Samsung TVs, Sonos Beam Soundbar, Apple iPad & Apple TV) 
  • 3 UK bundles FWA over 5G with free Apple TV 
Video

Walt Disney

  • Distr deal with TIM: bundles TIMvision, Netflix, Disney+ in Mondo Intrattenimento service as part of TIM Super Wi-Fi TV over FTTH (max 1 Gb/s) or FTTC (max 200 Mb/s), 50 EUR/mo or stand-alone 14 EUR/mo
  • Rumor: Disney+ to add Group Watch feature 200904, max 7 people
Netflix

  • Launches promo for non-subs: free access without sign-up to 10 season 1 episodes 1 of orginal series (Murder Mystery, Élite, Boss Baby: Back in Business, Bird Box, When They See Us, Love Is Blind, The Two Popes, Our Planet, Grace and Frankie), only on Android, PC, Mac
  • Dynamically adjust bit rate to match the content, reduces average bit rate by 50% with no loss in image quality, number of rebuffers -65%
Other

Music

Amazon Music (55m users) partners with Twitch to add live streaming music to Amazon Music app

Web services

Google

  • Launches Kids Space mode for Android tablets, first for Lenovo Tab M10 HD Gen 2: access to library of apps, games, videos, books
  • Updates Keen (social net collections of links, texts, etc): adds photo uploads
  • Google Maps adds in-app parking payment over Google Pay, first in Austin (Texas)


CORPORATE

AT&T

Vodafone

Vivendi
  • Demands (with Amber Fund) EGM at Lagardere; combined 44% of capital, <30% of votes; demand new Supervisory Board members
  • ECJ: Italian law requiring Vivendi to freeze its stake in Mediaset on antitrust grounds infringed the union’s regulations
Bytedance
Other
  • Sunrise: Salt sues in US over planned UPC Schweiz merger; subpoenas Liebrty Global, Liberty Media, Liberty Global Chair John Malone & CEO Mike Fries
  • Telefonica DE: Transfers 5975 rooftop sites & 58 tower sites to Telxius (= Telefonica), EUR 1.5b
  • Iliad: 20Q2
  • Patreon: Raises $90m from New Enterprise Associates, Wellington Management etc at $1.2b valuation; total raised $256m
  • Palantir: Amended S1 IPO filing

REGULATORY

Facebook
Other
Platforms general
  • Apple (developers), Google (ad buyers), Amazon (3rd-party sellers) to pass on Digital Services Tax in UK (2%), AT (5%), Turkey (5%) from Nov 2020
  • US gvt/POTUS Trump plans action against more Chinese apps, after TikTok
  • India bans 118 more Chinese apps (prejudicial to sovereignty & integrity of India, defence of India, security of state, public order); total 224
  • DoJ Austria plans platform (>100k users, rev >EUR 500k) obligation to remove criminal content within 24 hr & otherwiser illegal content withion 7 days, non-compliance fine max EUR 10m 
  • Multilateral Mutual Assistance and Cooperation Framework for Competition Authorities (MMAC) established by US DoJ, US FTC, UK CMA, New Zealand Commerce Commission, Competition Bureau Canada, Australian ACCC: to improve coordinated & pro-active informal cooperation & assistance
  • Axios: Facebook, Google, Twitter, Reddit are holding regular meetings with federal law enforcement & intelligence agencies to discuss potential threats to US Presidential election integrity.
  • AT&T proposal: Section 230 should not apply if platform actively curates, proposes disclosures about how they collect & use data, how they rank search results, how they interconnect & interoperate with others,how their algorithms preference some content, products & services over others
  • 15 Streaming services in India (Zee5, Viacom18, Disney Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, MX Player, Jio Cinema, Eros Now, Alt Balaji, Arre, HoiChoi, Hungama, Shemaroo, Discovery Plus, Flickstree) adopt self-regulation (Universal Self-Regulation Code for OCCPs) to pre-empt government censorship::age classification, content descriptions, control tools, create consumer complaints department and/or an internal committee and an advisory panel to deal with complaints and appeals


at 9:58 am
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