What’s up with... Vivendi & TIM, UK broadband, Wipro & Telefónica

• Vivendi’s digging in at Telecom Italia
• UK broadband operators mull legal action over Ofcom pricing decision
• Wipro lands major cloud native deal at Telefónica

Resistance to M&A in Italy, potential resistance to wholesale broadband pricing in the UK, and a significant next gen operations deal at Telefónica top today’s news pile. 

Vivendi is making it clear it has no intention of selling its 24% stake in TIM (Telecom Italia) to private equity firm KKR – at least not for the cash offer made by the private equity firm of €0.505 per share, reports Reuters. KKR tabled its takeover proposal last weekend in an effort to bring unity to the operator’s boardroom and get some key strategic actions back in play rather then left in limbo, but any such takeover will need the support not only of Vivendi, which holds a 24& stake in TIM, but also the Italian government, which can block any takeover offer for the telco.  

Several UK broadband competitive network operators, including CityFibre and Gigaclear, are considering legal action against the UK regulator Ofcom’s decision to approve the so-called Equinox pricing offer from BT’s quasi-autonomous access network unit Openreach that ties in wholesale customers for years are discount prices, The Sunday Times reported. Britain’s alternative operators had campaigned against the Equinox proposal, which has proven popular already with large ISPs such as Sky, because they feel it unfairly skews the market and limits their ability to compete for business on an equal basis. For more on this, see this coverage on ISP Review.

Wipro has landed a significant deal to provide Telefónica with Continuous Integration, Continuous Deployment and Continuous Testing (CI/CD/CT) in Germany and Brazil, with a view to expanding the operational processes to Spain and the UK. “The solution, developed by Wipro, will be built over open source tools and open to evolution, allowing rapid adaptation to future technological changes. Common repository test tools will also be used, with the possibility of future integration with the CI/CD/CT pipeline,” noted Telefónica. “Wipro will work with Telefonica to automate the associated Network Operations and, thus, enable the transition to the Telco Cloud and the adoption of the virtualized Network Functions. This framework will allow for industrialization of the process, coping with the increased volume and complexity of the Network Functions while adopting an Agile working methodology in parallel to the industry,” it added in this announcement. 

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.... Communications service providers care deeply about the experience of their customers and are committed to doing more to improve it in the near future. No? Well, it’s true, according to CSPs execs who attended the recent Mobileum WeMeet user group meeting. More than 140 CSP execs voted in a poll about priorities for 2022, and 56% selected “enhancing the customer experience” as their primary choice, ahead of ensuring great network performance, and even security! The survey also revealed that “slice revenue assurance” and “testing and monitoring” would be next year’s biggest challenges in 5G. Read more. 
 
IoT product and IoT-as-a-Service specialist KORE has launched an eSIM solution, KORE OmniSIM, that it says “makes IoT connectivity more accessible and seamless across the globe.” KORE President and CEO Romil Bahl boasted: “The launch of OmniSIM further positions us as the leading eSIM provider for the Internet of Things. We’re entering what I like to call the ‘Decade of IoT’, and in order to deliver on the growth that we expect, eSIM technologies will be a key enabling factor to the explosion of IoT solutions globally.” Read more.

Tata Communications has launched Tata Communications GlobalRapide, an “end-to-end managed unified communications as a service (UCaaS) to enable enterprises deliver digitally advanced, sophisticated, and intelligent collaboration experiences to employees.” The service provider says the launch makes it a “one-stop-shop to address all digital-first, cloud-first unified communications requirements of global businesses.” Read more.

Mobile trade-in programs returned $757 million to US consumers during the third quarter of this year, a 33% increase both sequentially and year-on-year, according to research findings from Assurant, a company that “partners with the world’s leading brands to develop innovative products and services and to deliver an enhanced customer experience.”  According to the company, its data “shows the significant role mobile trade-in programs are having in supporting the upgrade to 5G.” Read more.