Week 53 in Telecoms, Internet, Media

Mobile

• Auctions
• PTS (Sweden) plans 2.1 & 2.6 GHz auction 2023 at earliest
• ICASA (ZA): 6 applicants for multiband auction (700, 1800, 2600, 3500): Cell C, Rain Networks, Vodacom, Telkom, Liquid Telecom, MTN
• Indotel (DomRep) plans multiband auction (700, 3500)
• 5G
• Dtac (= Telenor, Total Access Comms, Thailand) orders 5G RAN from Nokia - Launches 5G-700 201224, target 2k sites by mid Jan 2021
• TIM Brasil launched 5G based on DSS in Sao Paulo, Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba; to expand to Salvador, Fortaleza, Recife, Belem, Campinas, Santos, Florianopolis (total 12 cities) by March 2021
• 6G: S Korea to invest SKW 5.8t ($5.3b) in 2021 on ICT R&D o/w SKW 17.2b ($15.7m, EUR 12.8m) on 6G

Traffic

• DNA (Telenor): average FWA usage July-Aug 2020: FWA 5G modem 576 GB (75% over regular 5G modem, 250% over 4G modem), regular 5G modem 330 GB, 4G modem 168 GB, 3G modem 38 GB; average mobile usage July-Aug 2020: 5G 59 GB (32% over 4G), 4G 44 GB, 3G 10 GB; usage by media: 40% video, 10% social networking, 1% music
• New Year's Eve

• 3 Denmark: total mobile data usage 2020 320TB (+44%), usage per customer +39%, outgoing texts -5%, outgoing calls +21%; plans 4G upgrade in 2021
• Telenet New Years Eve mobile traffic: 4.31m texts (-47%), 100 GB data (-24%) [due to corona virus: at home, using WiFi]
• WhatsApp New Years Eve voice & video calls 1.4b (+50%); 55m live broadcasts on Facebook & Instagram; Messnger group video calls US doubled from average day
• KPN New Years Eve traffic: 248 TB over mobile (+26%; 2019: 197); 1.8m SMS (2019: 2.4m); 3.8m voice calls (2019: 4.1m)
• VodafoneZiggo New Years Eve traffic: mobile 185 TB (+28%); fixed peak 540 Gb/s over WiFi (+55% yoy; 2019: 350 Gb/s)
• Vodafone NZ New Years Eve mobile traffic: data +80% yoy to 630 TB (2019 NYE: 350), SMS -11%

Telecoms

• Virgin Media UK (Liberty Global): Competitors file complaints against O2 merger: could lead to higher mobile prices [see 200908]

Media

• ESPN (Walt Disney): ESPN+ raises price of annual tier 210108 from 50 to 60 USD/yr for new subs (for existing subs from 210302) (monthly tier remains 6 EUR/mo, bundle with Disney+ & Hulu remains 13 $mo until 210326 [see 201210]); UFC PPV events price to rise from USD 65 to 70
• Quibi (dissolved): WSJ: to sell content catalog to Roku

Internet

• Amazon
• Amazon Music: Acquires Wondery (podcasts), raised $15m, rumored 2020E rev $40m (75% from ads), rumored price >$300m
• Amazon Prime Video: Invested $400m in 30 originals in India in 2019-20, has 50 shows in development
• Holidays 2020 sales: 3rd-parties sold <1b products, sales growth >50%; hired >400k employees in 2020 + 100k seasonal workers in US/Canada + 75k drivers hired by Delivery Service Partners since Feb 2020; total  front-line employee bonuses 2020 $2.5b; global Amazon Smile donations 2020 $237m
• Launches 4K smart TV (with Alexa) in India, brand AmazonBasics, 50 inch model $410, 55 inch $480
• Facebook: Licensing deal with Tips Industries for Bollywood music for Reels and Stories (Instagram & Facebook)
• Google: Google trials search category short video (TikTok, Instagram) in mobile

Platforms

• France to resume collecting digital services tax, Italy & UK to start in 2021; US to start import tariffs on French goods 210106
• Zyxel firewalls, VPN gateways, access point controllers contain hardcoded admin-level backdoor account
• NYT report on Russian hacking via SolarWinds