What’s up with… DT & T-Mobile US, Ericsson and Three Ireland, O2 & Azure

• Might DT take a bigger slice of the T-Mobile pie?
• Ericsson plays 5G matchmaker
• O2 teams with Azure for a private network PoC

Speculation around DT’s stake in T-Mobile US and a 5G matchmaking initiative from Ericsson lead the race to the news finishing line today.

Deutsche Telekom is reportedly interested in increasing its stake in T-Mobile US and may seek to buy SoftBank’s 8% stake to add to its existing 43%, according to Bloomberg. Such plans may get revealed on Thursday when the giant German operator holds its Capital Markets Day meeting. Deutsche Telekom recently announced very positive first quarter financial results, boasting of a strong performance on “both sides of the Atlantic” and noting that T-Mobile US’s acquisition of Sprint is “paying off sooner than expected.” With T-Mobile US performing well, it’s possible that DT could aim to further boost its earnings from US operations to fund its fibre and 5G investments in Europe: Let’s see what Deutsche Telekom CEO Timotheus Höttges has to say (or not!) on Thursday…

Ericsson has named Three Ireland as the first operator partner for its new Startup 5G initiative, which aims to “help communications service providers (CSPs) to capture the consumer potential of 5G” by teaming them up with hand-picked technology startups such as augmented reality specialists Inception XR and Eyecandylab and many more. The Startup 5G program is run by the vendor’s ConsumerLab research and development unit that is led by Jasmeet Singh Sethi, with Cristina Pandrea the main individual driving the initiative. “There is an Ericsson team with cross-domain expertise working close to Three Ireland as part of this engagement,” notes the vendor, which adds that it is “possible” that relationships with the tech startups involved could be expanded to broader partnerships in the future.” And could that lead to potential investments from Ericsson? “We want to help and mentor global startups and firms that are working with 5G relevant consumer use cases using our 5G technology know-how and our in-depth insights from ConsumerLab,” says the vendor (so that’s not a ‘no’ then…). Ericsson is looking to work with startups focused on areas such as cloud gaming, XR/AR/VR and mixed reality, healthcare, payments and more – check out this link. Elaine Carey, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), Three Ireland and UK, is happy to be engaged: “The collaboration and partnership with Ericsson in our 5G consumer offerings has been established, grown and developed over the last two years, and has now reached a new level as we join their Startup 5G program. Three Ireland will now be in a fantastic position to introduce exciting new partners and offerings to customers in the Irish market, demonstrating our commitment to 5G innovation, and our customers.” For further details, see this announcement.

O2 (Telefónica UK) has teamed up with Microsoft Azure for a proof of concept (PoC) focused on the secure data management potential of private networks. The PoC will deploy Microsoft Azure Private Edge Zones as the on-premises edge computing platform within a Private 5G Network run by O2. “The potential benefits of the trial are significant, combining secure, high-bandwidth private network capabilities with on-site low latency data storage, which will provide safer and more efficient data management,” notes the operator in this announcement. 

Nokia has landed a couple of new deals: It is providing radio access network gear to Net4Mobility (a joint venture of Telenor and Tele2) in Sweden, where it is replacing the incumbent 4G vendor Huawei and providing gear for a significant part of the operator’s 5G rollout; and it is providing its Digital Operations software, cloud infrastructure software and AirFrame servers to major Philippines telco PLDT and its wireless unit Smart Communications, a move that will “standardize PLDT and Smart’s virtualization environment for multi-vendor applications.”

There’s plenty ode debate right now about whether satellite broadband services can help bridge the digital divide and offer decent service levels. Well, The Verge decided to find out for itself and tried out a Starlink service, a move that resulted in the article “STARLINK REVIEW: BROADBAND DREAMS FALL TO EARTH: SpaceX’s satellite internet service is a technological marvel — when it works.” It’s worth reading this article, which is hard-hitting, witty and, above all, accurate. You might never think about facilities-based competition (or trees) in the same way again. And you can add Dishy McFlatface to your vocab…