What’s up with… Vodafone, Singtel, Virgin Media O2

• Vodafone unveils ‘direct-to-cell’ R&D hub in Spain
• Singtel’s portfolio props up its Q3 numbers 
• Virgin Media O2 targets a financial turnaround in 2025

In today’s industry news roundup: Vodafone and its satellite partner AST SpaceMobile are to open a satellite-to-smartphone (direct-to-cell) technology development hub in Málaga ahead of Vodafone’s European service launch starting later this year; Singtel’s Australian and B2B services divisions propped up its fiscal third-quarter numbers as sales flagged at home; UK operator Virgin Media O2 looks to put a year of declining sales and earnings behind it; and much more!

As it builds up to its planned launch of commercial satellite-to-smartphone (direct-to-cell) mobile broadband connectivity across Europe starting later this year and into 2026, Vodafone Group has announced it will this summer open what it describes as “Europe’s first research hub dedicated to developing integrated low-earth orbit space-based and land mobile broadband services that allow customers to switch seamlessly between satellite and 4G/5G networks using their existing smartphones.” The facility, to be located at Vodafone’s innovation centre in Málaga, Spain, is being developed with Vodafone’s low-earth orbit satellite partner AST SpaceMobile (in which Vodafone is also a stakeholder) and the University of Málaga, while other tech firms and developers are being invited to participate, “fostering a new European ecosystem of combined satellite and earth connectivity solutions” based on “Open RAN principles”. The hub is being supported by a launch grant (of an unspecified value) from the Spanish Space Agency. It will “specifically focus on the design, testing and validation of new open-source hardware, software and processing chips that can work interchangeably in both space and terrestrial networks,” noted Vodafone. The hub will boast a space-to-land gateway (pictured above) “to allow its partners and other operators to test and validate their own services connected to AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird satellites before launching them commercially,” added the operator. “By enabling other operators and vendors to test services through the hub, Vodafone is encouraging collaboration across the industry that will drive innovation and deliver universal connectivity faster and more efficiently. Ultimately, Vodafone will expand the hub to become a fully managed network and service operations centre for third-party companies across Europe,” the operator explained. At the end of January, Vodafone announced it had, in partnership with AST SpaceMobile, “successfully made the world’s first space video call using normal 4G/5G smartphones and satellites,” a milestone that gave it the confidence to announce its commercial service launch plans (though exact details, including planned satellite-to-smartphone service tariffs, are yet to be shared). Earlier this month, T-Mobile US, which has chosen AST’s rival Starlink as its satellite partner, launched the public beta version of its satellite-to-smartphone service for smartphone users in the US and outlined its initial tariffs as part of its announcement. 

Singtel Group was propped up by its Australian and enterprise services operations in its fiscal third quarter, which closed at the end of December 2024, while its revenues dipped in its home market. Total group revenues were up by 1.6% to 3.63bn Singapore dollars (US$2.7bn), driven by a 4.1% increase in sales at its Australian subsidiary Optus to S$1.86bn (US$1.38bn) and a 6% rise in revenues at NCS, its regional business-to-business services division, to S$742m (US$533m). But in its home market, Singtel Singapore’s revenues dipped by 4.8% to S$976m (US$727m), impacted by lower handset sales, while its Digital InfraCo unit (which includes its Nxera datacentre operations) registered a year-on-year decline in revenues to S$102m (US$76m). Each division, though, managed to slightly increase its earnings, so Singtel Group reported a 1.5% increase in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to S$943m (US$702m). But it was the company’s net income that made the financial headlines, as the sale of stakes in Thailand’s Intouch and Australian towers firm Indara helped its third-quarter net profit to leap by 185% to S$1.32bn (US$982m). This was also helped, however, by higher profit contributions from some of its associate telcos (in which Singtel holds stakes), such as India’s Bharti Airtel and Thailand’s AIS. Singtel Group CEO Yuen Kuan Moon stated: “We delivered a solid third quarter as focused execution and operating discipline saw sustained growth momentum across the business. Optus and NCS maintained strong performances, and our regional associates Airtel and AIS delivered higher contributions. With the positive momentum and active capital management of the past nine months, we are making good progress with our Singtel28 plan for growth and sustained value realisation. Despite an uncertain macroeconomic environment, we remain optimistic about Asia’s long-term growth potential and continue to see strong demand for digitalisation and the digital infrastructure that underpins it. We will stay focused on lifting business performance by capturing growth opportunities in artificial intelligence, datacentres and global connectivity.”

UK operator Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) is targeting sales and earnings growth in 2025 after a year in which its customer numbers increased but its revenues and earnings headed in the wrong direction. The telco, which is jointly owned by Liberty Global and Telefónica, reported full year sales of £10.68bn, down 2.1%, and adjusted EBITDA of £3.95bn, down 3.7%. In the face of ongoing intense competition from the ISPs that offer their services over BT’s Openreach wholesale fixed access network and CityFibre’s wholesale infrastructure, VMO2 has been focused on expanding its fibre footprint over the past year and its network (combined cable broadband and fibre) now passes 18.26 million UK premises, up by more than 1.2 million compared with the end of 2023. It ended last year with 5.74 million broadband customers, up by just over 21,000 during the year, while its total number of mobile connections increased by almost 450,000 to 35.65 million. However, those mobile numbers include internet of things (IoT) connections, which increased by almost 1 million to 12.45 million, while its retail mobile customer base dipped by more than 460,000 to 23.2 million. “Our investments of more than £2bn across the year helped us to significantly boost our 5G coverage, improve mobile network quality and enhance rural connectivity. We also expanded our fibre footprint faster than ever as we [continue to] build on our existing gigabit leadership and push ahead with creating the biggest fibre challenger in the UK along with Nexfibre,” noted VMO2 CEO Lutz Schüler. “In 2024, we laid the foundations for future success, and in 2025 we will get back to growth in core revenues and profitability while continuing investment in our networks and services. Throughout the year we’ll also deliver on key strategic moves, including the creation of a fixed NetCo and the expected acquisition of spectrum from Vodafone-Three, which will further improve mobile performance. This is the start of a new chapter for Virgin Media O2.” That fixed NetCo, which will comprise VMO2’s fixed access network, will compete directly with Openreach and CityFibre (as well as a number of altnets) in the wholesale high-speed fixed broadband services sector, but VMO2’s owners are keen to secure an external investor for NetCo, and that investment has not yet been announced. 

The introduction of the R1 generative AI (GenAI) tool developed by Chinese firm DeepSeek, and the subsequent AI tech sector kerfuffle, appears to have resulted in the rehabilitation of China’s privately owned tech sector and at least one of its major figures, according to The Economist (subscription required). Jack Ma was famously sent into tech exile in 2021 after he criticised Chinese government regulations prior to the planned IPO of his company, Ant Group, (the IPO didn’t happen, massive fines were imposed by the government and Ma fell off the corporate map). Now, though, with the US versus China tech battle entering a new realm, DeepSeek’s impact appears to have engendered a change of heart at PRC HQ, which organised a symposium on 17 February to which Ma was invited: That act alone lit a fire under the share prices of Chinese tech giants Alibaba (co-founded by Ma), Tencent and Xiaomi. The Economist’s take is that this signals a warming of the relationship between the Chinese authorities and China’s privately held digital services and infrastructure giants, a relationship that will need to be sweetened if China is to compete effectively in the global market with the US.   

Shared and private network infrastructure operator Boldyn Networks has deployed and activated a private 5G standalone (SA) network, using Nokia’s Modular Private Wireless (MPW) technology, at the Oulu University Hospital in Finland. The hospital’s executives believe this can have a positive impact on its ability to deliver a better standard of care to its patients. “The network going live… opens a world of possibilities for improving patient care,” noted Jani Katisko, associate professor and medical physicist at Oulu University Hospital. “This advancement means that doctors and nurses can have instant access to critical information on their devices, maintaining connectivity as they move throughout the hospital. This not only maximises efficiency but also significantly improves the quality of care provided to patients. Wireless smart glasses can revolutionise data visualisation, providing us with real-time insights into patient needs. This is just the beginning. We are excited to see the research and development of even more innovative use cases in the future, such as robotic medicine delivery, AI-assisted medical imaging analysis, and virtual remote training and assistance.” Read more. Boldyn is, of course, hoping to play a much bigger role in the private wireless network sector more broadly following its recent move to acquire German specialist Smart Mobile Labs.

The rush to add low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite connectivity to service portfolios continues, with international enterprise services specialist Colt Technology Services the latest to add a space dimension to its offerings. It has launched what it calls Managed LEO+, which “integrates LEO satellite connectivity with cellular 4G/5G”, to its technology portfolio. The service, which Colt says is available in 65 countries, “brings a greater choice of networking technologies to businesses with operations – such as production facilities, manufacturing sites and retail locations – in rural and hard-to-reach areas,” stated the service provider. But where do these LEO services come from? It turns out its partner is Blue Wireless, which is a reseller of Starlink’s various satellite-enabled services.  

– The staff, TelecomTV