What’s up with… Iliad, Nvidia, Verizon

• Iliad becomes Europe’s fifth-largest telco
• Nvidia continues making hay 
• Interns flock to Verizon

In today’s industry news roundup: Iliad goes from strength to strength as it claims fifth spot among Europe’s telcos in terms of subscriber numbers; Nvidia reports massive 122% growth in second-quarter financials, but shareholders want more; having been inundated with interns, Verizon is bucking the telco trend when it comes to attracting the top new talent; and more!

Iliad, the Paris, France-headquartered operator, has clawed its way up the telecoms greasy pole and now claims to be Europe’s fifth-largest telco – as judged by number of subscribers. It hit the 50 million mark at the end of the first half of this year after increasing both the number of its mobile and fixed-line customers, to 40 million and 10 million respectively. Iliad’s CEO, Thomas Reynaud, commented, “We now count 50 million subscribers in France, Poland and Italy, and as many as 61 million with our investment in Swedish operator Tele2.” Iliad bought a 19.3% stake in Tele2 back in February this year. Overall, Iliad reported a 10.3% increase in revenues between 1 January and 30 June, together with a total of 1,318,000 new mobile and fixed-line subscribers of which 621,000 signed on the dotted line in Q2 this year. This, said the CEO, “significantly boosted the group’s profitability and helped to reinforce its financial solidity.” He added that the company is on track to report €10bn in revenues for the full year. Revenues in France rose by 9.6%, Poland by 12% and in Italy they grew by 11.5 % despite the fact that Iliad has given up on attempting to foster consolidation in the Italian mobile market and will, henceforth, concentrate solely on the fixed-line sector there. In its home market, where Iliad operates under the banner of the “Free” brand, it now has 22.8 million mobile customers. In Poland, Iliad’s second-largest market, it provides services under both the “Play” and “UPC” brands and has a combined total of 15.3 million subscribers. Reynaud enthused that the company’s “Odyssey 2024” plan, that “has guided our roadmap over the past five years, has [now] come to fruition. And our next Odyssey will be forged by ongoing innovation, investing in our 5G and fibre networks, and strengthening our cloud and datacentre activities.”

What more can Nvidia do? It has announced an incredible 122% growth in its second-quarter revenue and earnings, exceeding analyst expectations, and raised its revenue estimates for the third quarter. Bravo! Except its share price fell more than 7% in after-hours trading. Maybe its shareholding workforce wants to hold onto their stock a little longer before joining the swelling ranks of newly minted tech millionaires. Revenue was up $17bn year on year to $30bn, and quarterly net profit increased by 168% to $16.6bn. However, its gross profit margin was only 75.1% – down three points from the previous quarter. Outrageous! According to Nvidia, this was due to the shift to its next-generation Blackwell graphics processor units (GPUs). “The anticipation for Blackwell is incredible,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia, adding that Blackwell samples are now shipping to its partners and customers. “Across the entire stack and ecosystem, we are helping frontier model makers to consumer internet services, and now enterprises. Generative AI will revolutionise every industry.” Read more.

It has been well documented that telcos struggle to attract the top new talent required for their evolution to digital service providers, especially when faced with the enticements offered by the hyperscalers and platform companies. But fear not, telcos could be in for something of a renaissance. Digiday Media subsidiary WorkLife has reported that US telco Verizon received a record 49,000 applications for its summer internship programme this year, competing for 363 places, with the most interest in technology groups. “We’re making sure every single person who receives an offer for either full-time or another internship… [gets] that offer before they walk out the door,” said Steve West, Verizon’s head of global talent acquisition. The telco claims that the total conversion rate for new hires or returning interns is around 85%. Part of the attraction is that Verizon offers a full benefits package for the duration of the internship. Initial feedback from this summer’s programme found that 98% had a positive experience and 99% would like to return to Verizon thanks, in part, to the company culture and face-to-face time with executives. Ok, these are ‘only’ 10-week internships, but it’s a good start. Perhaps telcos aren’t as dull and boring as many believed? Let’s take the win.

Staying with Verizon… The world’s second-largest telco by revenue and, with 116 million subscribers, the biggest mobile carrier in the US is always on the lookout for ways to extend its reach, user base and influence. Hence the announcement that, from next month, it will start to offer free satellite-based text services across areas with little or no existing coverage. To do so, it is partnering with Skylo Technologies, a global non-terrestrial network (NTN) service provider based in Mountain View, California, which provides a clever service that enables smartphones and wireless IoT devices directly to connect over existing in-orbit satellites. In its initial test phase, Verizon will offer just new “emergency messaging and location-sharing” information with a full-scale general messaging service planned for 2025. In a blog post, Verizon wrote that the connectivity will be available on “select devices” initially on the Google Pixel 9 series of handsets and then, later, on the Samsung Galaxy S25 suite. According to the Android Police website, Verizon has confirmed that connectivity via the handsets will be offered free of charge across all tariffs on all price plans – provided the subscriber has a handset able to support satellite connectivity, and currently not many feature such a facility. Certainly Google’s Pixel 9 series does provide for satellite connectivity via partnerships with Skylo and Garmin, the Swiss-domiciled company whose operational headquarters is in Kansas in the US. It specialises in GPS technology for automotive, aviation, marine, outdoor, and sport activities. Earlier this month, Garmin announced the integration of its satellite SOS emergency response coordination service into Google’s Android smartphone ecosystem. Meanwhile, Google relies on Skylo’s end-to-end satellite service by connecting to the company’s licensed mobile satellite spectrum. No doubt others will jump aboard the bandwagon as soon as they can.

Every now and then (it’s a movable feast), the Chinese Communist Party convenes a “Third Plenum” a behind-closed-doors gathering of the Central Committee to define the general direction of the PRC’s social and economic policy for the next five years and more. It is called the Third Plenum because it is the third time it has met since the 205 members of the (current) 20th Central Committee were elected at the last National People’s Congress in 2022. Between each Congress, the Central Committee holds seven plenums. This is the third, and the newly formed latest strategy, and is particularly interesting as the new strategy for industrial transformation relies on the support of billions of robots to drive the engines of growth. China, already the world’s largest industrial robotics market, will become ever-more reliant on robots as demand for yet greater efficiencies in production accelerates across all industries. To meet the nationwide requirements, plants manufacturing robots are increasing their capacity and new ones are being built. As Marina Bill, president of the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), points out, “The operational stock surpassed the 1.5-million-unit mark two years ago, making China the first and only country with such a large industrial robot stock.” Initially driven by the enormous investment that has characterised the Chinese automotive sector in recent years, the PRC has transformed itself into the world's largest car market and largest car production base for both petrol/diesel-powered and electric vehicles in less than 15 years. However, since 2016 the electronics industry has overtaken automotive as the main driver and customer for industrial robots in China. Currently 95% of Chinese-made robots are used in-county to meet domestic needs, but an export market is emerging and 5% of China’s output of industrial robots are now sold to overseas customers.

The ITU has published an updated version of its Radio Regulations, the international treaty governing the global use of radio-frequency spectrum and satellite orbits. It builds on the agreements at last year’s World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-23) and will come into effect from January 2025. “The updated treaty provides a framework for national spectrum management that aligns with international standards and guarantees the stable, predictable regulatory environment that is essential for the development of innovative radiocommunication services for all,” said Mario Maniewicz, director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau. The update identifies new spectrum resources to support innovation, improve global connectivity, increase access to space-based radio resources and enhance safety. There’s more information here, or you can just head straight for the download.

It appears that it is never too early to plan for the future. Finland’s Ministry of Transport and Communications has set up a working group to promote (gasp!) 6G technologies. Having been at the vanguard of cellular technology since before Gs were even a thing, Finland is understandably keen to be amongst the pace setters for whatever comes after 5G. Its stated aim is to prepare a national 6G roadmap and to encourage cooperation and exchange of information amongst government, researchers and businesses. One of the goals is to map and compile Finland’s objectives for the radio frequencies required by next-generation mobile technologies. Another is to carry out a review on how to ensure network security in the 6G transition. Issues relating to reliability and interoperability will also be examined. Read more.

– The staff, TelecomTV