Constructel brings 5G to Bavarian Alps
GERMANY 31 JUL

Constructel brings 5G to Bavarian Alps

Constructel, a subsidiary of Nearing Visabeira, has brought high-speed mobile connectivity to the peak of the Jennerbahn in the Bavarian Alps. Situated at an altitude of roughly 1,800 meters within Berchtesgaden National Park, near the iconic Koenigssee and the historic Eagle's Nest, the newly constructed radio tower eliminates a long-standing dead zone for Deutsche Telekom in one of southern Germany's major tourist destinations, the company said. Nearing Visabeira's technical teams handled the complete ins

Vodafone Germany brings 130,000 new fibre connections to market in June
GERMANY 31 JUL

Vodafone Germany brings 130,000 new fibre connections to market in June

Vodafone Deutschland said there are now 31 million households in Germany able to access its gigabit-speed broadband services via coaxial cable or fibre, or about three quarters of the population. It began marketing another 130,000 fibre connections in June, bringing its fibre reach to 14.8 million households.

Ennoconn tender for Kontron still pending German foreign investment clearance
GERMANY 31 JUL

Ennoconn tender for Kontron still pending German foreign investment clearance

Almost 12.3 million shares in Kontron, equal to 19.5 percent of the outstanding shares, were tendered in Ennoconn's public bid for an increased stake in the company. In a statement, Kontron noted that the transfer of the shares to Ennoconn still requires regulatory approval, with Germany yet to decide on the transaction. 

French state sells EUR 1 bln in Orange shares
FRANCE 31 JUL

French state sells EUR 1 bln in Orange shares

The French state has sold some of its shares in Orange, equal to a 2.5 percent stake in the company. Public investment bank Bpifrance said it divested 66.5 million Orange ⁠shares via a secondary share sale, at a price of EUR 16.57 per share, to raise a total EUR 1.1 billion. This reduces the government's stake, held via Bpifrance and the shareholdings agency APE, to 20.4 percent of capital and 27.0 percent of the voting rights. 

Dazn, Eurosport extend agreement in Germany, Austria, Switzerland
GERMANY 30 JUL

Dazn, Eurosport extend agreement in Germany, Austria, Switzerland

Global sports streaming platform Dazn has extended a partnership with Warner Bros Discovery in Germany, Austria and Switzerland for the long-term. This will keep the Eurosport 1 HD and Eurosport 2 HD linear channels on Dazn - giving customers access to events such as the Australian Open, Roland-Garros (French Open), Tour de France and the LA28 Olympic Games, as well a wide range of winter sports. Eurosport 1/2 content is included with all Dazn packages, with the Mobile Pass available from EUR 9.99 per month

Magenta venture Alpen Glasfaser activates new lines in Carinthia as fibre expansion continues
AUSTRIA 30 JUL

Magenta venture Alpen Glasfaser activates new lines in Carinthia as fibre expansion continues

Magenta has presented the progress of its fibre deployment in the state of Carinthia through its Alpen Glasfaser joint venture with Meridiam. Lines recently began going live in Voelkermarkt and Spittal an der Drau. Many customers in the Reifnitz and Raunach areas of Maria Woerth in the district of Klagenfurt-Land have gained fibre connections, as well as those in Villach and Wolfsberg, Magenta said.

Swisscom starts selling Xplora X6Play eSIM smart watch
SWITZERLAND 30 JUL

Swisscom starts selling Xplora X6Play eSIM smart watch

Swisscom has begun offering Xplora smart watches aimed particularly at children. The Xplora X6Play eSIM watch in black was available from CHF 209, or from CHF 5.80 on top of subscription costs, but is currently labelled as sold out. Swisscom's Blue Kids Watch subscription costs CHF 19.90 monthly for unlimited calls and texts within Switzerland and 1 GB of top speed domestic data, after which unrestricted use is possible at reduced speed. Blue Kids Watch also allows 30 mins of calls, 30 SMS and 300 MB of dat

Bouygues Telecom service revenues rise 1% in Q2, mobile ARPU down 3%
FRANCE 30 JUL

Bouygues Telecom service revenues rise 1% in Q2, mobile ARPU down 3%

French operator Bouygues Telecom has confirmed its full-year financial targets after reporting a year-on-year increase of nearly 1 percent in service revenues for the three months to June (-0.2% in Q1). The second quarter benefited from a 25 percent increase in 'Other sales' to EUR 403 million, helping drive overall revenue growth of nearly 5 percent to EUR 2.01 billion. EBITDAaL was nearly stable at EUR 539 million, compared with EUR 541 million in the year-earlier period, representing an EBITDAaL margin o

Bouygues Telecom launches 'Certified cheaper or your money back' pledge on new smartphone purchases
FRANCE 29 JUL

Bouygues Telecom launches 'Certified cheaper or your money back' pledge on new smartphone purchases

French telecom operator Bouygues Telecom has launched a new marketing initiative aimed at reassuring customers purchasing smartphones through its sales channels. New handset purchases are now covered by the new 'Certified cheaper or your money back' pledge, which applies if the same model is available at a lower price from a selected group of retailers (Apple Store, Amazon.fr, Auchan, Boulanger, Carrefour, Cdiscount.fr, Darty, Fnac, Free, Orange, SFR and Samsung Store).

Joyn adds 9 free on-demand Warner Bros Discovery channels to streaming line-up
GERMANY 29 JUL

Joyn adds 9 free on-demand Warner Bros Discovery channels to streaming line-up

Joyn said it is adding nine Warner Bros Discovery free, on-demand channels to its streaming platform. They are DMAX Blue Light, DMAX Motor, DMAX Treasure Hunters, DMAX Creators, TLC Crime, TLC Mystery, Dating Without Borders, Naked Survival and My Life at 300 KG. The new content will be available long-term both in the live TV section and on demand from the media libraries of TLC and DMAX.

Inherent strengthens AWS expertise with acquisition of French cloud expert Skyloud
FRANCE 29 JUL

Inherent strengthens AWS expertise with acquisition of French cloud expert Skyloud

Inherent, the parent company of French B2B operator Adista, has announced the acquisition of Skyloud, a Lyon-based company specialising in the design of cloud architectures for software developers. Since its creation in 2020, Skyloud has built significant expertise in Amazon Web Services (AWS), as demonstrated by its AWS Partner Select Tier Services and AWS Partner Public Sector certifications. Through the acquisition, Inherent aims to strengthen its public cloud capabilities in areas such as DevOps, SecOps

BMDS publishes study on data delivery obligations for sharing infrastructure
GERMANY 29 JUL

BMDS publishes study on data delivery obligations for sharing infrastructure

Germany's Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs and Public Sector Modernisation (BMDS) has published a new study on potentially sharing energy, water, transport and telecoms physical infrastructure to help expand fibre and mobile networks. The study looks at what information is required for existing physical infrastructure (such as routes, pylons, lines, shafts) to be shared, and how data delivery obligations can be delivered under the European Gigabit Infrastructure Act (GIA). 

GERMANY 29 JUL

Federal Network Agency takes central role in AI Regulation monitoring

The Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) is now responsible for implementing EU AI Regulation in Germany, with the 'Market Surveillance and Innovation Promotion of AI Act' coming into force from 29 July. It will be responsible for market surveillance, monitoring compliance with AI Regulation for AI system. It will also be central complaints body to process complaints about AI Regulation violations. 

GERMANY 29 JUL

Fritz!Box 5690 Pro starts support for Matter

Fritz! Has announced that a new Fritz! Lab has become available to download in preparation for the next release (Fritz!OS8.50) for the Fritz!Box 5690 Pro, the first model to offer Matter support as a Matter bridge. This makes Fritz! Smart Home devices and compatible equipment from other manufacturers registered with the Fritz!Box accessible to a Matter network.

SWITZERLAND 29 JUL

Salt owner NJJ Continental prices EUR 855 mln term loan and EUR 30 mln notes issue

NJJ Continental, the Luxembourg-based owner of Swiss operator Salt, has announced the pricing of a EUR 855 million term loan facility and EUR 30 million in additional senior secured notes. The proceeds from both will be used to repay or all or some of another facility, called B3, and for general corporate purposes and/or working capital requirements.

FRANCE 29 JUL

SFR tests quantum-safe encryption on transport network with Nokia

French operator SFR has shared details of a recent test conducted at its TechnoLab site in Velizy, in collaboration with Nokia. The two partners said they successfully demonstrated the ability of SFR's WDM optical transport network to integrate end-to-end quantum-safe encryption, in preparation for cybersecurity requirements in the post-quantum era. The test evaluated Nokia's Quantum Safe Network (QSN) approach, which automatically encrypts data at the optical layer without requiring additional equipment. E

GERMANY 29 JUL

Telefonica Deutschland reports lower Q2 revenue and EBITDA amid weaker mobile turnover and handset sales

Telefonica Deutschland has reported a fall in revenue and EBITDA in the second quarter amid weak handset sales and temporary mobile service revenue headwinds from its partner business, adding that the headwinds will phase out in the second half of this year. The company has announced a reorganisation to address changing market conditions and internal complexity by simplifying the operating model and achieving a leaner operation. It expects to cut up to around 1,100 FTEs in 2026 and shut about 60 of its own

FRANCE 28 JUL

Canal Plus renews funding for French film industry in nearly EUR 1 bln deal for 2028-2032

French pay-TV operator Canal Plus has announced a five-year agreement renewing its longstanding commitment to support the French film industry. Like the previous partnership covering the 2025-2027 period, this new deal allows Canal Plus to broadcast films to its subscriber base as early as six months after their cinema release in France. The agreement applies to both Canal+ and Cine+ OCS activities, and commits EUR 980 million to French and European productions over a five-year period starting in 2028.

GERMANY 28 JUL

Kaufland Mobil lets new customers test plans for free

German MVNO Kaufland Mobil will launch a promotion on 30 July allowing new customers to test a mobile plan for free for one month, teltarif.de reports citing information in the latest Kaufland promotional leaflet. Customers can test the Smart S, Smart M or Smart L plans free of charge for four weeks. The plans offer 25GB, 50GB and 100GB data for EUR 8.99, EUR 13.99 and EUR 18.99 per month respectively. 

GERMANY 28 JUL

Previder expands in northern Germany with Sysmind takeover

Dutch IT services group Odin has acquired Sysmind Service- und Vertriebsgesellschaft, a German IT services provider based in Hamburg. It will become part of Previder. Sysmind specialises in cloud, security, modern work and managed services for medium-sized organisations. No financial details of the takeover were disclosed. 

FRANCE 28 JUL

France's Arcep plans to measure environmental impact of generative AI

French telecom authority Arcep is seeking stakeholder feedback on a draft decision that would extend the collection of environmental data to providers of generative AI services. The regulator also plans to broaden its data collection requirements in areas already covered by its digital sustainability survey, particularly to better assess the opportunities for reusing excess heat generated by data centres.

GERMANY 28 JUL

Deutsche Telekom adds 622,000 homes passed to fibre network in Q2

Deutsche Telekom's fibre roll-out in Germany accelerated in June, with another 240,000 homes passed by the FTTH network. That's up from 173,000 premises added to the network in May and 209,000 in April. At the end of June in total 13.6 million households and businesses could access the full-fibre network, with speeds of up to 2 Gbps.

GERMANY 28 JUL

Schwarz Digits hosts Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange on StackIT cloud infrastructure

Schwarz Digits and Zscaler have announced a partnership to operate the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange on Schwarz Digits' sovereign StackIT cloud infrastructure in Germany. This creates a sovereign Zero Trust Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) security service to prevent AI threats and increase cyber resilience. The service is available immediately to customers throughout Europe.

GERMANY 28 JUL

OXG Glasfaser starts FTTH network build in Essen

OXG Glasfaser, fibre network JV between Vodafone Germany and Altice, has started the construction of a new full-fibre network to connect more than 91,300 homes in Essen. The FTTH network is being delivered by construction partners including Kabel X Deutschland, DK Hoch und Tiefbau, and Grund Tief und Kabelbau. It will operated on an open-access model, with households able to select services from a range of ISP partners. 

Just In

1 AUG 17:55

Turkcell launches rewards programme for prepay customers

1 AUG 17:32

Vodafone Turkiye tops 1 million ChatGPT package users in one month

31 JUL 15:25

Datagrid inks supply and installation deal with ASN, OMS for Tasman Ring Network project

31 JUL 14:16

Vantiva eyes H2 recovery after 15% sales decline in January-June

Commentary

2 JUL 11:26

Canal Plus misses chance to strengthen Dutch business, time for exit?

23 JUN 09:56

ACM blocks Delta/Glaspoort deal - what can KPN do?

5 MEI 10:55

KPN: the art of making one-offs structural

4 MEI 14:25

Open Dutch Fiber outlook: time to restart roll-out?

Background

26 JUL 23:19

The week in telecom: Samsung works on foldable challenge, US telcos try FMC

19 JUL 23:41

The week in telecom: OnePlus exits tough smartphone market and Apple takes on OpenAI

12 JUL 23:30

The week in telecom: European telcos take shape as Xavier Niel buys more of Vodafone, Telenor expands in Sweden

5 JUL 23:03

The week in telecom: Comcast gives up on vertical integration, BT and Verizon agree global alliance