What’s up with… Bell Canada & Ziply, Reliance Jio, BT

• Bell Canada seals $5bn deal to buy US ISP Ziply Fiber
• India’s Reliance Jio looks set for a 2025 IPO
• Speculation swirls around BT’s global operations

In today’s industry news roundup: Bell Canada extends its fibre broadband reach across the border with the acquisition of US operator Ziply Fiber; sources suggest the Jio Platforms IPO in India is on course for 2025; rumours mount around BT’s plans to offload its international assets; and more!

Bell Canada (BCE) has struck a deal worth 7bn Canadian dollars (US$5bn) to acquire Ziply Fibre, a regional ISP that is based south of the border in the north-west region of the US. The Canadian telco will buy the company for CAN$5bn and, once the deal is completed (expected late 2025), take on board Ziply’s CAN$2bn in debt, giving the deal its CAN$7bn valuation. The move will expand the number of premises passed by BCE’s fibre access network infrastructure by 1.3 million to a total of 9 million: The operator has a target to reach 12 million properties across North America with fibre by the end of 2028. “This acquisition marks a bold milestone in Bell’s history as we lean into our fibre expertise and expand our reach beyond our Canadian borders,” stated CEO Mirko Bibic. “Fibre is at the heart of what we do, and we’re proud to connect people and businesses and enable them to do more through our fibre networks. By bringing together Bell and Ziply Fiber’s exceptional talent, we’ll accelerate our growth while continuing to deliver significant value for our customers and shareholders,” added Bibic. Ziply Fiber has network operations in four US states – Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana – and was founded in 2020 when the company acquired network assets and broadband service operations from Frontier Communications for US$1.35bn. Harold Zeitz, Ziply Fiber’s CEO, noted: “Bell’s leadership and vision aligns perfectly with our commitment to improve the connected experiences of our communities through fast, reliable fibre Internet and a refreshingly great experience. This acquisition enhances our growth strategy with the scale and experience of one of North America’s leading fibre operators. I’m also grateful for the support of our original partners at both Searchlight Capital and WaveDivision Capital.” BCE’s shareholders aren’t best pleased with the deal, though, as the Canadian operator’s share price took an 8% hit in early trading on the Toronto stock exchange to drop to CAN$41.15. For more on this M&A deal, see this press release. 

The long-awaited IPO of Jio Platforms, the Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) division that includes India’s largest mobile operator Reliance Jio, is expected to take place in 2025, according to Reuters, which cited two sources with knowledge of the plans. Speculation about such a move has been mounting for months, with analysts from investment advisory firm Jeffries assigning a value to Jio in July of more than $100bn (see Is India’s Jio heading for an IPO?). If the IPO happens, it will be the biggest in India’s history. Jio ended August with 471.8 million mobile connections, giving it a market share of 40.5%. Jio has more than 148 million 5G customers, with those 5G users generating 34% of the mobile data traffic running over Jio’s networks in the fiscal second quarter that ended in September: Jio Platforms generated revenues of $4.4bn in that quarter, up by 17.7% year on year, while its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 17.8% to $1.89bn. 

BT Group’s CEO Allison Kirkby is prioritising the sale of non UK-based assets and is “determined” to offload the global operations of BT Business, according to a report from UK newspaper The Mail on Sunday. The speculation won’t come as a surprise to anyone in the telecom sector as Kirkby signalled that BT’s global operations were under review when she presented the telco’s full financial year results in May. During that presentation, she stated: “As we move into the next phase of BT Group’s transformation, we are sharpening our focus to be better for our customers and the country by accelerating the modernisation of our operations, and by exploring options to optimise our global business. This will create a simpler BT Group, fully focused on connecting the UK, and well positioned to generate significant growth for all our stakeholders.” In recent weeks, speculation has emerged of interest in BT’s operation in Ireland from Macquarie-backed service provider Viatel, while in September Telecom Italia (TIM) was reported to be one of a number of companies interested in picking up what is left of BT’s operations in Italy. What is interesting to watch with regards to these developments is what happens with the Global Fabric infrastructure that BT recently launched following years of planning, deployments and investment – see What now for BT’s Global Fabric?

Aira Technologies, based in Saratoga, California, has unveiled Naavik, which it describes as an “intent-based platform that uses GenAI to help network engineers deal with the most pernicious challenges holding back modernisation of the telco radio access network (RAN).” The system combines AI-enhanced data analytics, energy management tool, automated network configuration and root cause fault management capabilities, and more. “Aira Naavik is the first platform to seamlessly combine GenAI with traditional AI to solve impactful use cases for network operators,” boasted Aira co-founder and CTO RaviKiran Gopalan. “A lot of intentionality has gone into the design of Naavik and we are proud to reveal its capabilities to a wider audience,” he added. Read more.

Huawei continues to grow… The giant Chinese vendor reported a 29.5% year-on-year increase in revenues for the first nine months of 2024 to 585.9bn yuan ($82.5bn), according to a filing with the Shanghai Clearing House, reports The South China Morning Post. The increase in sales is believed to be driven by growing demand for the vendor’s new smartphones.

Deutsche Telekom subsidiary MMS (T-Systems Multimedia Solution) has teamed up with private bank Bankhaus Metzler to launch a pilot project to “operate a Bitcoin mining infrastructure using surplus energy”. According to this DT press release, the “mining is intended to be powered by electricity from renewable energy sources, which would otherwise remain unused due to insufficient grid input possibilities and/or lack of storage options. The pilot project aims to provide valid field data and insights to plan subsequent projects. With the increasing production of electricity from renewable energy sources, the need to stabilise the energy grid (regulating power) also rises, as production peaks occur irregularly depending on the weather. Particularly through photovoltaic and wind power, there is an increasing amount of surplus energy… The long-term goal is to use the data obtained from the pilot project to contribute to the stabilisation of the energy grid during energy fluctuations that stress the grid. Additionally, wind power producers or photovoltaic plant operators could benefit from this technology, as they often face the challenge of unpredictable regulating power,” added DT. 

– The staff, TelecomTV