What’s up with… BT, Veon & Kyivstar, sat2phone

• BT approaches AT&T, Orange for global partnership – Bloomberg 
• Veon grows, plots digital service expansion in Ukraine 
• US cable operators tap Skylo for satellite-to-smartphone services 

In today’s industry news roundup: Bloomberg reports that BT has approached AT&T and Orange about potential international service partnerships; Veon has reported full year sales and earnings growth while its Kyivstar operation is acquiring a ride-hailing service digital platform; US cable operators Comcast and Charter team with Skylo for satellite-to-smartphone service launches; and much more!

BT Group has approached other telcos, including AT&T and Orange, about the potential of international collaboration as it seeks partners and/or investors for its Global unit, according to a report from Bloomberg (subscription required). That BT has engaged in talks with other operators about potential partnerships is not a shock, as the current strategy of CEO Allison Kirkby is for the UK national operator to focus on its domestic market and she has made it clear on a number of occasions that BT is seeking partners for its Global unit, which is now run (again) by Bas Burger. When Burger was reassigned recently (from his previous role as CEO of BT Business), the telco noted that his job is to “devote all of his time to the optimisation of BT’s international operations and explore options for the unit”. Those options include striking partnerships in the low-margin, highly competitive international communications services sector, where BT now has a prime infrastructure asset in the form of its state-of-the-art Global Fabric data network, which is now up and running. BT, as you’d imagine, is not confirming anything specific in relation to the report but noted in an emailed response to questions from TelecomTV that it has “been clear that we are looking at options to optimise our international operations. Although we would never comment on specific rumour and speculation, as you would expect we’re keeping everything open and this means we’ve been speaking to third parties about a range of possibilities.”  

International network operator Veon Group has reported an 8.3% increase in revenues and a 4.9% increase in EBITDA for the full year 2024 to $4bn and almost $1.7bn, respectively. Direct digital revenues grew by 63% to $460m, representing 11.5% of total revenues for the year. CEO Kaan Terzioglu stated: “I am pleased to report that Veon continues to demonstrate robust growth and has delivered on earnings expectations in reported USD terms. We have also succeeded in executing on our strategic priorities in FY24. Our strategy cements our position at the forefront of the digital revolution and ensures sustained growth and success in our rapidly evolving frontier markets. Veon will continue to execute to this strategy in 2025, driving growth and innovation across our markets.” To find out more about Veon Group’s digital strategy, watch TelecomTV’s exclusive interview with Lasha Tabidze, chief digital operations officer at Veon Group. 

Still with Veon, its operation in Ukraine, Kyivstar, has agreed to acquire a 97% stake in Uklon, a ride-hailing and delivery platform, for $155.2m. “This strategic acquisition marks Kyivstar’s expansion into a new area of digital consumer services in line with Veon’s digital operator strategy,” stated Veon. “Uklon operates in 27 cities across Ukraine and unites more than 100 thousand driver-partners on the platform. The company facilitated over 100 million rides and more than 3 million deliveries in 2024. In 2023, Uklon entered the deliveries business and expanded its operations into Uzbekistan, where Veon’s Beeline Uzbekistan also operates as the country’s leading digital operator,” it added in this announcement. Veon also provided additional information about Uklon in this press release. Veon’s CEO Terzioglu stated: “Kyivstar’s investment in Uklon is more than an exciting business expansion – it is a statement of confidence in Ukraine’s digital growth potential. Uklon joins Veon’s digital products that serve 120 million monthly active users in five countries; and Kyivstar’s other successful digital offerings, such as Helsi, the country’s leading digital healthcare platform, and KyivstarTV, one of the top digital streaming platforms of Ukraine, and digital enterprise services. We are looking forward to exploring the expansion of Uklon’s capabilities beyond Ukraine and Uzbekistan with the support of our digital operators in Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.” The news comes only days after Veon announced that Kyivstar is to become a listed company on the US Nasdaq stock exchange.  

The race to provide US mobile customers with any sort of connectivity in remote areas beyond the reach of terrestrial cellular infrastructure is heating up, with cable network operator giants Comcast and Charter Communications the latest to enter the fray. The cable duo’s mobile businesses – Xfinity Mobile (Comcast) and Spectrum Mobile (Charter) – have hooked up with geosynchronous earth orbiting (GEO) satellite operator Skylo Technologies to enable their cellular service customers that are using Samsung Galaxy S25 and Google Pixel 9 smartphones to send and receive text messages via satellite connections, with the service set to be activated within the next few weeks. In addition to those with Galaxy S25 and Google Pixel 9 devices, Spectrum Mobile and Xfinity Mobile customers already have access to emergency messaging via a satellite backup service on select Apple and Google devices (provided directly by the smartphone manufacturers). “We understand how crucial it is to stay connected,” stated Paul Hanton, VP of global carrier partnerships at Skylo, which recently raised $30m to further expand its business. “Skylo’s groundbreaking satellite network, combined with the reach of Charter and Comcast, will bring enhanced coverage to countless individuals.” The move comes as Verizon announced “a significant expansion of its satellite texting capabilities, enabling its customers to become the first in the US to send text messages to any other customer device via satellite when outside the reach of terrestrial cellular networks, using select Android devices from the series of Samsung Galaxy S25 and Google Pixel 9 smartphones.” Verizon and AT&T have hooked up with low-earth orbit (LEO) operator AST SpaceMobile for their satellite-to-smartphone services, while T-Mobile US is partnering with SpaceX’s Starlink. 

The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has issued new guidance to help companies prepare for and protect against the threats posed by future developments in quantum computing. The guidance “emphasises the importance of post-quantum cryptography (PQC), which is a new type of encryption designed to safeguard sensitive information from the future risks posed by quantum computers,” noted the NCSC in this announcement. “While today’s encryption methods – used to protect everything from banking to secure communications – rely on mathematical problems that current-generation computers struggle to solve, quantum computers have the potential to solve them much faster, making current encryption methods insecure. Migrating to PQC will help organisations stay ahead of this threat by deploying quantum-resistant algorithms before would-be attackers have the chance to exploit vulnerabilities,” it added.   

– The staff, TelecomTV