What’s up with… DigitalBridge & JTower, Digi Communications, Prysmian & STL

• DigitalBridge to acquire Japanese towers firm JTower
• Digi’s growth driven by Spanish success
• Prysmian wins trade secrets court case against fibre rival STL

In today’s industry news roundup: DigitalBridge is expanding its towers empire with the acquisition of Japanese shared wireless infrastructure firm JTower; ambitious European network operator Digi Communications is growing its sales, earnings and subscriber numbers in all territories, particularly in Spain; Italian fibre manufacturer Prysmian has been awarded more than $96m after winning a trade secrets court case against rival Sterlite Technologies (STL Tech); and much more!

Giant infrastructure asset investor DigitalBridge has offered to acquire Japanese wholesale wireless network infrastructure company JTower for 93bn yen ($632m), a premium of more than 150% on JTower’s market capitalisation at the end of trading on the Tokyo exchange on Wednesday. NTT Group, NTT Docomo and JTower’s founder and president Atsushi Tanaka have agreed to sell their stakes, which combined comprise almost 26% of the tower company’s equity and the company’s board is supporting the offer. JTower notes in this announcement that its business requires up-front capital investments that don’t deliver immediate returns, making it hard to raise capital from external investors. DigitalBridge, though, is a company that specialises in such investments and says it is “prepared to provide additional equity capital required to fully support the growth” of JTower once it is part of the DigitalBridge empire. “As a result, we will be able to respond flexibly to future additional funding needs and make up-front investments from a long-term perspective, thereby appropriately being able to seize growth opportunities in the infrastructure sharing market and further increase the speed of business growth. Against such [a] background, the company has decided this time to strengthen its management base by adding DigitalBridge as our new partner to contribute to the development of the Japanese telecommunications industry by establishing an infrastructure sharing market as a pioneer of infrastructure sharing in Japan,” noted JTower, which does business with all of Japan’s main mobile operators. The news came as JTower, which initially started more than a decade ago as an in-building carrier-neutral wireless infrastructure firm but which is now expanding its portfolio of outdoor towers, reported a 78% year on year increase in fiscal first quarter revenues to 3.7bn yen ($25.2m), though its operating profit dipped by 62% to 68m yen ($463,000) due to a sharp rise in tax costs. JTower operates 589 shared in-building systems (IBSs) in Japan, as well as 243 in other countries, and more than 6,700 outdoor towers in Japan, most of which have been transferred to the company from NTT Docomo. We reported only this week that JTower has deployed a revolutionary glass antenna system in Tokyo, in partnership with NTT Docomo and glass manufacturer AGC. DigitalBridge has lots of experience in the towers sector through its existing investments in the likes of EdgePoint (Southeast Asia), Digita (Finland and Iceland), GD Towers (Germany and Austria, acquired from Deutsche Telekom), Highline (Brazil), MTP (Mexico) and Vertical Bridge (US).   

Ambitious European telco Digi Communications has reported a 13.4% year on year increase in second quarter revenues to €474.7m and a 16.5% increase in adjusted EBITDA to €170.2m. “This performance is underpinned by solid growth in strategic markets and aligns with the management's projections for the first half of 2024,” stated the company, which has commercial operations in Romania, Spain and Italy and which is also gearing up for launches in Portugal and Belgium. For the first half of the year, total revenues were €921.3m, up by 13% compared to the same period in 2023, while adjusted EBITDA grew by 19.1% to €333.3m. The company ended June with 6.2 million mobile customers, as well as nearly 5.8 million pay-TV and 4.7 million fixed broadband users, in Romania, its main market. In Spain it had 5.3 million mobile customers (up 23% year on year) as well as 1.68 million fixed broadband customers, up by more than 50%. In Italy it has more than 450,000 mobile customers. All of those customer statistics are on the rise. "We are thrilled with the sustained strong performance of our group across all our markets,” stated CEO Serghei Bulgac. “The first half of the year marked a significant milestone as we surpassed 25 million customers [as measured by individual service connections], driven by an impressive year-on-year increase in the Spanish market of 23.2% in the mobile segment and 50.6% in broadband. Our most recent initiatives will further fuel this momentum in the future as we are now well-positioned to transition from a mobile virtual network operator to a full-fledged mobile network operator in Spain, allowing us to roll out our own mobile network,” courtesy of a recent national roaming agreement and a radio access network (RAN) sharing agreement with national telco Telefónica. “Additionally, our newly announced strategic acquisitions will enable us to solidify our position in both well-established and emerging markets, supporting our organic growth trajectory. This expanding geographic diversification, strong growth prospects, and balanced leverage are key assets for our group. We are happy that these major advantages of our business model were also recognized by Fitch Ratings, which recently assigned Digi Communications a 'BB'/Stable rating," added the CEO. The company is also now trying to beef up in Portugal by acquiring Nowo Communications, the country’s fourth largest network operator.    

Italian fibre manufacturer Prysmian has been awarded $96.5m by a South Carolina court after it won its trade secrets lawsuit against rival vendor Sterlite Technologies (aka STL Tech) and former executive Stephen Szymanski, who left Prysmian to join Sterlite in August 2020. “Prysmian filed its lawsuit in June 2021, accusing its former executive of misappropriating trade secrets and taking them to his new employer Sterlite, a direct competitor,” noted Prysmian in this announcement. “Sterlite and Szymanski denied that they had taken anything from Prysmian. At trial, Prysmian ultimately proved that Sterlite had taken thousands and thousands of pages of Prysmian’s confidential information and trade secrets. The materials in Sterlite’s possession included information about Prysmian’s customers, information about Prysmian’s newest products, and information about Prysmian’s plans to expand its manufacturing plants. Much of the information was found in the possession of not just Szymanski and Sterlite, but also in the possession of executives at Sterlite’s global headquarters in Pune, India.” That’s rather compelling evidence that led the jury in the trial to decide in favour of Prysmian and instruct STL Tech to pay $96.5m in damages and for Szymanski to cough up $200,000. “This case came down to the basic principle of right versus wrong, and we are pleased that the jury came to this decision,” blustered Andrea Pirondini, Prysmian North America CEO. “It was clear that we had a solid case, and the jury decision confirms how America looks at the protection of trade secrets. It also demonstrates we will not stand still when it comes to defending our confidential information and trade secrets, competing fairly in the marketplace, and doing right by our customers,” added Pirondini. Sterlite Technologies noted the court decision in a filing with the BSE stock exchange in India but also noted that it “believes the judgment is not supported by the testimony and evidence presented at trial and intends to vigorously pursue all available post-trial remedies including an appeal.” 

Swisscom says it’s on track to complete the acquisition of Vodafone Italy for €8bn, a deal that was first announced in February and confirmed in March. The Swiss telco, which plans to merge Vodafone Italy with its existing Italian operation Fastweb, says it has already “received unconditional approval from both the Presidency of the Council of Ministers in Italy (Golden Power legislation) and the Swiss Competition Commission.” Now Swisscom has “formally notified the Italian Competition Authority (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato)” about the deal and, if all regulatory approvals are forthcoming, it expects the deal to close during the first quarter of 2025.  

BT Group’s mobile networks division, EE, has deployed its first 5G small cells: It currently has 1,000 small cells deployed across the UK and has just switched on its first 5G sites in Croydon, south London. “Small cells are an integral component within our mobile network, ensuring that even in the busiest places our customers have access to the full performance of the UK’s best network,” noted Greg McCall, BT Group’s chief networks officer. “To reach 1,000 deployments, including our first 5G sites, demonstrates our commitment to delivering unrivalled mobile connectivity to all four corners of the UK,” he added. Read more. 

Telekom Malaysia has been building private 5G networks for energy giant ​​Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) for a couple of years already and has just deployed another, its fourth for the company, at Petronas’s site in Bintulu on the north coast of Borneo. Abang Yusuf Abang Puteh, senior VP of LNG (liquefied natural gas) assets at Petronas, noted: “The integration of 5G with the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and automation will streamline workflows, increase productivity by automating data collection, while enhancing safety across all levels.” Telekom Malaysia (TM) group CEO Amar Huzaimi Md Deris added: “This private 5G deployment is the next phase in TM and Petronas’s long-standing partnership to future-proof its businesses for a sustainable future. Leveraging on advanced technologies like AI, the enterprise 5G application is expected to yield optimum operational efficiencies for its highly secure reliable connection, real-time monitoring and analytics as well as remote maintenance. Furthermore, this collaboration will further catalyse digital innovation and industry adoption which are key to ensure business resiliency in the future and this intent is also aligned with TM’s aspiration of becoming a digital powerhouse by 2030,” added the CEO.

- The staff, TelecomTV