Week 10 in Telecoms, Internet, Media

Corporate

• Updates
• Elisa: Capital markets day: targets 2020-23 rev growth CAGR >2%, EBITDA growth CAGR >3%, capex/sales max 12%, net debt/EBITDA 1.5-2.0x, equity ratio >35%, profit distribution (dividend, capital repaymnet, purchase of treasury shares) 80-100% of previous year's net profit; To grow in global telco software business (customers include DT) and industrial software for manufacturing [Consumer NPS 31.8]
• Deutsche Telekom: T-Mobile US Analyst Day    
• AT&T: Analyst Day Strategy Update & 5G Strategy    
• Verizon: Investor Day    
• US Cellular (TDS): Acquired 254 C-band licenses covering 94% of subs in FCC auction 107, $1.46b
• Towers
• Monaco Telecom (Xavier Niel): Sells towers Malta, Cyprus to Phoenix Tower (815 towers + build-to-suit sites), to close end 2021
• Vodafone: Vantage Towers Sets IPO price range EUR 22.50-29.00, market cap EUR 11.4-14.7b; to sell stakes in IPO to investors Digital Colony (EUR 500m) and RRJ (EUR 450m); tosell 88.9m shares to raise EUR 2.0-2.8b (incl 25% upsize & 15% greenshoe), 19.1-24.6% to be listed; subscription period until 210317, first trade Frankfurt 210318
• Other
• Dropbox: Acquires DocSend, $165m: document sharing via secure link
• PayPal: Acquires Curv (crypto security, Israel), rumored price <$200m
• Stripe: Raises $600m at $95b valuation from Ireland’s National Treasury Management Agency, Allianz, Fidelity, Baillie Gifford, AXA, Sequoia Capital
• Airspan Networks plans IPO via SPAC merger on NYSE, symbol MIMO
• RTL: 20Q4

Networks

• FTTH
• UK: CityFibre (Antin, Goldman Sachs) plans Phase 2: adds 216 towns (3m homes, GBP 1.5b) to cover <33% by 2025 (England, Scotland; 8m homes, 800k businesses, 400k publi sector sites, 250k 5G sites); currently 650k homes, 14 ISPs
• DE: TNG (= Intermediate Capital Group) raises EUR 73m debt for rural FTTH (200k premises) from UBS, others
• DE: Telekom DE plans 600k FTTH lines in Berlin by 2025, 1m by 2027
• DE: Deutsche Glasfaser plans 300k FTTH lines in Saarland, EUR 500m
• LEO
• Starlink asks FCC permission to service moving vehicles (trucks, ships, planes)

Services

• Deutsche Telekom
• T-Mobile US plans opt-out advertising program from 210426 (excl business accounts & children): targeted ads based on anonimised online activity
• Telekom DE partners with Envision Digital (Charging by EnOSTM) for home EV charging solution, with SIM and IP-VPN, from 37 EUR/mo (incl 100 kWh)
• Video
• Mediaset: Reuters: to unify streaming services in new Mediaset Play Infinity, to launch April 2021; plans separate tier for Champions League football
• Tubi (Fox Corp): Rumor: plans original programming (movies & series)

Regulatory

• Spectrum auctions
• Energistyrelsen (DK) starts 5G multiband auction: 1500, 2100, 2300, 3500 MHz, 26 GHz; bidders: TDC, 3 DK, TT-Network (= Telia, Telenor)
• Ofcom (UK) starts multiband 5G auction (700 MHz, 3.6-3.8 GHz)
• ACCC publishes Issues Paper on the impact of default settings for search engines & browsers on mobile devices, consultation until 210415 - Plans report on app marketplaces 210331
• EC publishes Digital Decade plan, proposes Digital Compass: 1. Digitally skilled citizens and highly skilled digital professionals (incl 20m ICT specialists), 2. Secure, performant and sustainable digital infrastructures (gigabit connectivity, 5G, quantum computer, 10k climate-neutral secure edge nodes), 3. Digital transformation of businesses (cloud, Big Data, AI; double the number of unicorns), 4. Digitalisation of public services (incl e-medical records) - BEREC supports