With the integration of the Polish operator Play completed, Xavier Niel's company has launched the acquisition of the cable operator UPC Poland. The latter is presented as "one of the leading Internet service providers in Poland with 3.7 million homes covered by fibre and 1.5 million subscribers".

The transaction is estimated to be worth 7.0 billion zlotys, or €1.53 billion. "The transaction will be financed with debt and cash available at Play". Completion is expected in the first half of 2022, after approval from the relevant authorities. UPC Poland will then be a subsidiary of Play.

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Source : NextInpact

In parallel with the takeover bid for Polish operator Play in the fall of 2020, Iliad intended to apply in Poland the strategy already adopted in France with Cellnex.

The agreement with the European mobile infrastructure operator, which covers 7,000 sites, was aimed at transferring 60% of the company's structure to Cellnex, and was designed to manage the passive telecoms infrastructure of the French operator's new Polish subsidiary.

It also included a collaboration with Cellnex to build at least 1,500 additional sites over 10 years for €400 million.

On April 1st, Iliad announced that it had finally finalized the extension of its industrial partnership with Cellnex through the sale to the latter of 60% of the company managing passive mobile telecommunications infrastructures in Poland, for the sum of €804 million before tax. This will enable its Polish partner to strengthen its investment capacities and enter a new development cycle with the deployment and acquisition of 5G frequencies, the densification of its mobile network, but above all the desire to enter the fixed-line market on a European scale.

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Source : freenews

On March 23th, Free announced its commercial offers for businesses: Free Pro. This offer is aimed at very small businesses, SMEs, but also local authorities and individual entrepreneurs who do not have the resources to buy services from competitors.

Free Pro will provide professionals with a 100% fiber-optic 10 EPON Freebox, featuring tri-band WiFi combined with a repeater. In order to guarantee an Internet connection even in the event of a power cut, this box has an external 4G modem and is based on both Free's fiber network and that of Jaguar Network. It also has a NAS function that allows you to save up to 200 GB of data in the cloud, WiFi 5 and standard WPA3 protection.

Free hopes to make a difference thanks to the supposed reliability of its hardware: the box is equipped with a dedicated OS that is capable of self-diagnosis thanks to AI. The operator also pledges to provide online assistance within eight hours with dedicated support based in France. The offer includes two fixed lines, with unlimited calls to mobiles in France and in more than 100 destinations around the world, as well as an unlimited 4G/5G mobile package.

The operator is also taking the opportunity to launch a mobile offer for professionals, which is not really different from its general public offer. For €19.99/month, you get 150 GB of 4G/5G data, 25 GB of roaming from more than 70 destinations and unlimited calls to mobiles and landlines to more than 100 international destinations. The subtlety is its customer service dedicated to professionals, accessible 7 days a week from 7am to 8pm, with a commitment to obtain a response within eight hours.

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Source : Journal du Geek

In a press release, af2m (French Association for the Development of Multi-operator Multimedia Services and Uses) "welcomes Iliad's membership, which joins Bouygues Telecom, Orange and SFR among its operator members".

The association has been working to "develop and promote multi-operator B2B2C services while respecting and protecting the end user" for more than 15 years. Among the subjects of concern: segmented advertising, payment solutions on operator invoices, SMS marketing, etc.

For af2m "This membership is an opportunity for all digital players who will be able to offer their professional customers (companies, online service providers, local authorities, associations, etc.) services that are now accessible to all French mobile and Internet users".

This will certainly prepare the launch of the operator's B2B offer: Free Pro. A launch that has been imminent for months... but is finally becoming clearer. As a reminder, Free's parent company is still not a member of the French Telecom Federation.

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Source : Next Inpact

As expected last September, Iliad confirmed its choice to turn to Nokia for its 5G telecom infrastructure. A total of 17 million subscribers in France and Italy are potentially concerned to switch to this latest generation mobile technology when the time comes.

"The Iliad Group will install Nokia's latest radio access technology, AirScale, enabling it to take advantage of the first 5G networks while supporting 4G/LTE and 5G in the same radio access system," said the Finnish equipment manufacturer.

The technology supports different network topologies, from distributed, centralized and cloud-based RANs. The OEM points to its speed and ease of installation and 60% energy savings as well as backward compatibility with its Flexi base station controllers.

In addition to Iliad, Orange has also chosen Nokia - alongside Ericsson - for the deployment of its 5G network. In particular with its Single RAN technology coupled with network automation and management tools and associated professional services in the regions.
 

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Source : Le Monde Informatique

According to the Financial Times, Orange is preparing to split its mobile tower business, the pylons where 3G/4G equipment for mobile phone use is installed, into a separate entity. This could be a prelude to a partial or total sale later on. A new entity that can be valued between €8 and €10.3 billion. Stéphane Richard's group has the largest number of antennas in France (15,000 in total), and one of the largest in Europe (59,000 antennas on the Old Continent, in Africa and in the Middle East).

Orange will inform about its projects during its investor day scheduled for December 4, according to sources in the Financial Times. Its CEO stated last May that "the current appetite for infrastructure funds clearly reveals the intrinsic value of telecom networks". The French operator must ask itself the question of "maximizing the value" of its infrastructure, he said at the time.

This type of split and sale is a cash movement of telecom operators in search of cash. Last August, Free sold 70% of Iliad Tower Co. In 2018, SFR (Altice) partially sold SFR TowerCo while Bouygues Telecom initiated the movement in 2016 with two disposals for a total amount of 700 million euros.

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Source : BFM Business

The telecoms police officer has just sent an early formal notice to Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Iliad-Free regarding the "New Mobile Deal". Indeed, Arcep considers that the commitments made by operators under this agreement, dating from January 2018, are not progressing fast enough.

At the time, the State agreed to renew part of the frequencies granted to operators for ten years and free of charge. A "gift" with a counterpart, however: the operators had undertaken to cover the territory more, particularly in the famous "white areas".

By the end of 2020, they must have converted all their existing 2G and 3G sites to 4G and improve mobile coverage on transport routes (from 2018) and inside buildings (from 2019).

But a year and a half after the signing, the regulator would find that progress was insufficient. "The regulator has no confidence in the operators, he believes that this case is dragging on," explains a source familiar with the case.

If the targets were not met by the 2020 deadline, early warning would make it possible to initiate sanctions more quickly without wasting time.

Aware that operators have always had difficulty meeting their commitments, the government has organised progress reports on the progress of the work. This was obviously not enough.

However, in June 2018, the government published the first 485 sites on which operators had to install their 4G antennas. For its part, the Arcep had launched its quarterly dashboard. But several observers had already warned of the magnitude of the task. "The deadlines were super-short. We could legitimately be concerned," recalls one participant today.

Operators, on the other hand, deny any delay. "Operators are deploying on schedule. ...] We are on the ground every day to solve administrative and technical challenges with the support of communities and government services. Arcep is welcome in the territories and will thus become even more aware of the collective success underway to finally solve the problem of white areas," said Arthur Dreyfuss, President of the French Telecommunications Federation. Summer is therefore likely to be turbulent.

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Source : Les Echos

Announced on January 18th by Free's parent company, the acquisition of 75% of the capital of the French company Jaguar Network will enable the operator to strengthen its offers on the B2B market. These shares, previously held by the Naxicap investment fund, were sold for just under €100 million.

"This transaction is an important step for Iliad in its development strategy to address the corporate market by leveraging the very strong expertise and complementarities between the two groups and by partnering with a recognized entrepreneur," said Free's management after the acquisition.

This takeover should enable Iliad to develop its national network of data centers in order to increase its capacity to provide technical support to companies. However, this operation should not change the organization chart of the operator and host Cloud Jaguar Network since the company remains managed by its founder, Kevin Polizzi, who remains a shareholder with 25% of the capital.

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Source : ZDNet