Week 36 in Telecoms, Internet, Media

CORPORATE

• Deutsche Telekom:
• Sells T-Mobile NL to APAX & Warburg Pincus (also jointly own Inmarsat), EV (enterprise value) EUR 5.1b = 8.7x LTM adj EBITDA AL, requires approval from EC, AFM, Dutch government, others (foreign bodies linked to APAX and Warburg Pincus), Works Council, to close 21Q4; DT to receive EUR 3.8b cash (includes repayment of DT's shareholder loans to T-Mobile NL); Tele2 to receive equity value EUR 860m = SEK 8.8b, plans extraordinary dividend, 11 SEK/share; licenses T-Mobile and Tele2 brands for 10 yr; CEO Abildgaard acquires shares, extends contract by 5 yr; to focus on B2B, IoT; to increase investments; rumor: 60% of purchase price to be debt funded by T-Mobile NL
• To increase T-Mobile US stake to 48.4% from proceeds of T-Mobile NL (20m T-Mobile US shares at USD 109 for USD 2.4b) [see 210907] & new shares (225m DT shares at EUR 20 for 45m T-Mobile US shares at USD 118) issued to SoftBank (stake drops to 3.3%); SoftBank to have 4.5% stake in DT
• To decide on 12% BT stake within 12 mo
• Reduces Ströer stake to 4.9%
• Monopolkommission (DE) proposes German state sells DT stake
• Telefonica: Establishes new Strategy & Development Department (strategy, M&A, digital innovation)
• Vodafone: Vodafone Idea expects Indian government support
• VOO: Rumor: Telenet, Orange BE, Warburg Pincus + 2 other PE interested; valuation EUR 1.4b; to sell 50 or 75% stake
• Iliad: AMF approves buy-out documents; Xavier Niel has 84.13%, launches public offer until 210924, plans squeeze out on reaching 90%
• RTL:
• CSA (FR) approves M6-TF1 merger; Autorité de la Concurrence to decide 2022; to close end 2022
• Fremantle sells Ludia (video games) to Jam City, $165m = EUR 139m
• Channel 4: EY report: privatisation could rerduce contribution through supply chain to UK economy by GBP 2b
• Storytel (listed) sells 6.6m shares (<10%) to EQT Public Value
• Sony: CMA (UK): AWAL acquisition raises competition concerns [see 210201], to respond within 5 days, otherwise to Phase 2
• Sportradar: Plans IPO
• PayPal: Acquires Paidy (Japan; buy now, pay later service that does not require a credit card), JPY 300b = $2.7b cash
• Stripe: Rumor: plans IPO 2022
• Amazon: Expands education & skills training benefits for US employees, to spend $1.2b 2022-2025: full college tuition for front-line employees (750k); adds 3 new skills training programs (to total 9) for employees to help them transition into jobs as data center technology technicians, IT engineers, user experience designers
• Microsoft: Study of 61k US employees working remotely: "potential to impact workers’ ability to acquire and share new information across groups, and as a result, affect productivity and innovation"; "rely more frequently than before on asynchronous communication, such as email and instant messages, and less frequently than before on synchronous communication, such as audio and video calls"

SERVICES

• NHK demos 8K video, with Intel; 23m pixels/sec, requires 80 Mb/s
• Walt Disney: To raise Hulu prices 211008: Hulu from 12 to 13 $/mo, Hulu With Ads from 6 to 7 $/mo; Hulu With Live TV remains 65 with ads, 71 without ads
• WarnerMedia:
• HBO Max to expand to 20 countries in Europe (also for HBO España, HBO Nordic, HBO Go subs): SE, NO, DK, FI, ES, Andorra 211026; next to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, CZ, HU, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, PL, PT, RO, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia in 2022 (total 60 countries); to organise around 5 hubs: Warner Bros, HBO, DC, Cartoon Network, Max Originals, to include licensed contnet, offering differs by country; no plans for AVOD tier in Europe; distr deal in ES with Vodafone ES, exclusive [other existing distr deals: via Sky (UK, IE, DE, AT, CH, IT), VodafoneZiggo (NL), Amedia (Russia)]
• Tests pricing for CNN+, from 2-10 $/mo
• Apple: Rumor: marketing spend for Apple TV+ $500m in 2021E, to increase originals in 2022 to >= 1 title/week
• Channel 4: Plans global streaming AVOD service, expanding All4 outside UK
• Star Media: To launch streaming service LAVA, with OTTera, globally autumn 2021; 8 languages, 7500 hr of series & films
• Globacom (Nigeria) launches GloTV streaming service
• TEGNA: Launches Quest, free AVOD service for adventure reality content
• Google:
• Expands Google Workspace functionality: enhanced search, Meet calling, live-translated captions in Meet, video conferencing devices for Meet from Logitech & Avocor
• Google and Cisco partner to make Meet and WebEx interoperable
• Bezeq receives license to supply electricity; Cellcom and Hot Comms also

HARDWARE

• Amazon: Launches range of Fire TV devices in US: 2 TV ranges with Alexa, 4K/UHD, HDR 10, HLG, Dolby Digital Plus: Amazon-built smart TVs (Amazon Fire TV Omni Series; $410, 510, 560, 830, 1100 for 43, 50, 55, 65 or 75 inches; 4-Series smart TVs for $370, 470, 520 for 43, 55 or 55 inches); new Fire TV Stick 4K Max with Alexa, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, WiFi 6 ($55); distr deal with Best Buy in US for Pioneer (43 and 50 inch) and Toshiba smart TVs (55, 65 o5 75 inch)
• Facebook: Launches AR glasses Ray-Ban Stories (with EssilorLuxottica), $300 ($330 with polarized lenses, $380 with transition lenses), with dual cameras (5 mp), companion camera roll app Facebook View, voice control, storage for 500 photos (or clips equivalent)
• Oppo launches Reno6 5G (EUR 500) and the Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G (EUR 800) smartphones
• Foxtel (Australia) launches streaming-only STB iQ5: 50k hr of content, 1 TB harddrive, 3rd-party apps (Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, ABC iView, SBS On Demand)
• TIM launches Technicolor STB (Android TV, JADE platform, WiFi 6)

REGULATORY

• DCMS (UK) starts GBP 4m project to allow MNOs access to lamp posts, traffic signals, CCTV poles etc for mobile equipment for 5G
• Slovenia plans 2100 auction (2x5 MHz)
• Spain plans 26 GHz auction end 2021-early 2022
• Facebook: CMA (UK) orders sell-off of GIPHY, final report 211006
• Apple: Federal District Court Judge in case brought by Epic Games (Fortnite): Apple must allow developers to link to their own transaction systems (for in-app purchases) from 211209; Epic failed in its burden to demonstrate Apple is an illegal monopolist; Apple not required to let Fortnite back in App Store, Epic to pay damages; Epic to appeal - Epic appeals
• DE, FR, NL call for stricter DMA (platform gatekeeper regulation) than proposed by EC, more room for customised remedies, national enforcement, national authorities should also be able to launch investigations on their own, propose ‘tailor-made remediation’, all acquisitions by the gatekeepers, including small deals, should be subject to competition vetting (investigations max 12 mo); final DMA expected 22H1