Week 43 in Telecoms, Internet, Media

CORPORATE

• KPN
• complets EUR 200m SBB, reduces shares outstanding by 73,684,157 (~1.75%).
• KPN Wholesale:
• KPN Wholesale extends contracts with Budget Thuis and Youfone by 5 yr; total ~75 wholesale customers
• KPN Wholesale to index tariffs 220101: MDF-access, Collocatie, ODF-access FttH, Carrier (Pre)Select, WLR, WBA/VULA, WMP
• T-Mobile NL sues KPN to delay copper switch-off 2 yr (to no earlier than 250101) on account of: full information available May 2021, ACM market assessment due 21Q4, switching off normally requires 3 yr migration (EC based), hearing 211027 - T-Mobile claims 37% of consumers cancel, 68% of business customers oppose migration
• BT: Rumor: hires investment bank Robey Warshaw to defend from Altice offer [see 210610]
• Telstra: Acquires Digicel Pacific (2.5m subs in Papua New Guinea, Nauru, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu, Fiji; 1700 employees; EBITDA margin 54%),$270m;  with Australian gvt ($1.33b; total $1.6b + $250m earn-out
• Vivendi: Plans to expand Prisa stake (9.94%) to 29.9%
• Channel 4: Rumor: Michael Grade considers offer

FIBER, TOWERS

• Handelsblatt: Telekom DE plans fiber JV for rural FTTP, EUR 6b, 4m lines by 2028; candidate investors: Brookfield, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, IFM (expected IRR 8%); start-iup capital EUR 1b
• Telenet:
• Telenet BV (HFC in 2/3 of Flanders & parts of Brussels) partners with Fluvius System Operator (HFC in 1/3 of Flanders, leased to Telenet until 2046), non-binding LoI (binding LoI expected spring 2022), to establish NetCo (to contain HFC & FTTP) to roll-out OA FTTP    
• starts strategic review of tower business (3311 sites o/w 2145 owned (o/w 37% towers) + 1166 owned by 3-rd parties)    
• SIRO (Vodafone, ESB) plans expansion by 320k to 770k premises (2.1m pops) in 154 towns, EUR 620m (o/w EUR 170m from EIB)
• KPN plans roll-out in Oisterwijk end 2022 (also: Delta Fiber)
• Open Dutch Fiber (KKR, DTCP) (total 209k premises in 7 towns)
• Open Dutch Fiber starts roll-out in Leidschendam-Voorburg (city #6) plans entire muni; first in Leidschendam (37k premises) Nov 2021, activation from March 2022, to finish mid 2023
• Open Dutch Fiber to start roll-out in Delft-West (city #7) Nov 2021, areas Tanthof West, Tanthof Oost, Buitenhof, Voordijkshoorn, Hof van Delft; activation from early 2022, to finish 2023
• Underline started operations, first roll-out in Colorado Springs (target 55k premises, $100m, 400 route km): OA FTTP; tiers: 500 Mb/s for 50 $/mo, 1 Gb/s for 65 $/mo; target list contains 2500 cities

5G

• Ericsson launches Critical IoT software toolbox upgrade for Time-Critical Communication (cloud gaming, AR/VR, remote control, mobility automation, industrial control) to deliver consistent low latency and high reliability in 5G networks
• IBM proposes maintenance (robot Spot) killer app for 5G
• Dish orders 5G blockchain tech from Helium Network for crowdsourced network, rewards users with crypto currency (HNT)
• EE (BT) launches 5G-700 for indoor at 50 sites

WIFI

• Amazon: eero networks activated with ISPs grew >75% yoy at 210930; new customers: REV (Cable Bahamas Group), OXIO (Canada), Eye Networks (Nordics), Adamo and MasMovil (Spain), TalkTalk and Utility Warehouse (UK), UScellular and Mediacom (US); current portfolio: eero 6 and eero Pro 6 mesh WiFi systems, eero Secure (security), eero Insight (mgt solution)

LEO

• Amazon: Project Kuiper (3236 sta LEO system) ordered by Verizon for backhaul, rural connectivity

QUANTUM COMPUTING

• Amazon partners with Caltech to establish AWS Center for Quantum Computing

SERVICES

• B2B: Cisco WebexOne event: launches Webex Hologram: real-time holograms (instead of avatars) for holographic meetings of remote colleagues (with Magic Leap 2 glasses) or shared 3D images at meetings
• B2C: Telefonica adds home insurance offer (Telefonica Seguros), with Santalucia and BBVA Allianz
• Video:
• Swisscom launches blue Play (films & series), free for blue TV subs; via STB or OTT (apps for iOS, Android, LG Smart TV, Samsung Smart TV) or web (blue.ch); different offerings per language territory: 3k titles in Italian, 5k in French, 10k in German; adds features to blue Sport
• Viaplay: Rumor: in distr talks with Ziggo, KPN, Delta/Caiway
• Netflix: S&P raises rating 2 notches to BBB (investment grade), outlook stable
• ViacomCSB: Bundle of Paramount+ (Essential tier, with adss, no local CBS stations) & Showtime priced at 12 $/mo or 120 $/yr; bundle of Paramount+ (Premium tier) & Showtime 15 $/mo or 150 $/yr
• WarnerMedia: HBO Max launches in ES, Andorra, NO, SE, DK, FI with promo until 211130: lifetime 50% discount at 5 EUR/mo; max 3 streams, 5 profiles
• Redbox: Plans package of streaming & disc rental
• Gaming:
• Roblox: Service outage since 211028 (7PM est) >48 hr, has 200m MAU, 40m DAU, average 156 min/day for daily active users - Restored 211031 5:30 PM EST
• Samsung plans cloud gaming platform for Smart TVs based on Tizen OS
• Facebook:
• metaverse investments to reduce oper profit 2021 by $10b; to report in 2 business segments: Family of Apps (FoA; Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, other) & Facebook Reality Labs (FRL; AR/VR consumer hardware, software & content)
• Facebook Connect; changes corporate name to Meta Platforms Inc, stock ticker MVRS from 211201; plans new VR games (with Vertigo Games, Epic Games, WarpFrog, Rockstar Games), new hardware (Project Cambria: VR/MR headset, to release 2022; Project Nazare: AR glasses), plans metaverse development (with focus on privacy, safety, interoperability); launches Horizon Home (home base in the metaverse); updates Project Aria (3D mapping and contextualized AI); launches Quest for Business (new features); updates Spark AR; launches Presence Platform for developers to create MR experiences for Oculus Quest (VR headset) - Rumor: plans smartwatch - Acquires Within (VR fitness app Supernatural) - Oculus executive named Jason Rubin wrote a 50-page document “The Metaverse” in 2018

REGULATORY

• EP approved European Council mandate on EC's proposal to EU Roaming Regulation (to extend RLAH regulation beyond June 2022), interinstitutional negotiations to agree on a common final text to start; Transatel proposes lower wholesale raoming caps to protect MVNOs (do not have inbound roaming income) and IoT
• Anacom (PT) raises EUR 567m from 4G/5G auction: Nowo (= MasMovil) acquires spectrum in PT, EUR 70.2m: 5 MHz in 1800 band, 5 MHz in 2600 band, 4x10 MHz in 3500 band; NOS spends EUR 165m, Vodafone PT EUR 133m, Meo EUR 125m, DixaRobil EUR 67.3m, Dense Air EUR 5.76m

PLATFORMS

• Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship (ECE) report for NLdigital & Dutch Startup Association on DMA impact on start-ups & scale-ups
• CISPE report on potential unfair practices for cloud computing services (survey of 25 companies): large software providers (Microsoft, Oracle) may abuse market power with unfair license terms (limiting choice); call on EU to address this in DMA
• ACCC Digital Platform Services Inquiry interim report; “Google’s existing dominance and its commercial arrangements have significantly increased barriers to entry and prevented new or emerging rival search engines from reaching consumers”; considers mandating a ‘choice screen’ for Android devices or end bundling of search engines with devices or other services
• FT report: Apple's privacy changes (iOS 14, since April 2021, App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy) cost Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube $9.85b

RESULTS

• Orange, TIM, KPN, Proximus, Swisscom, Telenor
• Telenet, Comcast
• Cellnex
• Nokia
• NENT Group, Spotify, Universal Music Group
• Microsoft, Apple
• Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook