• DT’s hanging on to T-Systems, at least for now 
• Netflix looks vulnerable, suggests analyst
• Telia finds lots of good uses for IoT

In today’s industry news roundup: T-Systems is off the table; Netflix could suffer as inflation bites consumer budgets; Telia highlight’s the potential sustainability impact of IoT; and more. 

Deutsche Telekom has shelved plans to sell its giant enterprise services division T-Systems, according to German business newspaper Handelsblatt. According to the report, the Deutsche Telekom board had held negotiations with some potential bidders but no suitable deal could be struck. Speculation that T-Systems might be offloaded emerged last year when Deutsche Telekom identified a number of assets it might seek to sell – it succeeded in striking a deal to sell a 51% stake in its towers unit in July. 

The impact of inflation on consumers’ willingness to pay for Netflix is the subject of a very interesting research note by investment analyst Richard Windsor in his latest Radio Free Mobile blog. He argues that Netflix could suffer from an ongoing loss of subscribers as consumer budgets are squeezed in multiple markets in a way that might not impact Amazon Prime, for example, given that the latter’s streaming video service is bundled with other benefits. Check out Windsor’s analysis here. 

Swedish operator Telia highlighted the capabilities of the internet of things (IoT) in reducing carbon emissions, energy consumption and related costs. According to the findings of its ‘Digitalization of buildings’ report, IoT solutions and data insights can address challenges for building owners, as between 50% and 80% of total costs are for operations and maintenance. The Nordic operator suggested that digitalisation, in general, can help with challenges, such as resource and energy waste. It claimed that its IoT offerings have led to an estimated 800 GWh in reduced electricity consumption in 2021, and it expects demand for such solutions to grow further. Find out more.

Earlier this week, TelecomTV reported on the looming skills and recruitment challenge faced by the telecom sector in the article Telecom has a “talent problem”, warns Colt CEO Keri Gilder. Now that topic has been picked up and added to by telecom software sector watcher Ryan Jeffery in this blog. If the issue of diversity, inclusion, skills and recruitment in telecoms is of interest, check out what Jeffery has to say, because this is a topic that needs to be kept in the spotlight. 

BT’s public relations team will have had a busy end to the week. Not only is the operator dealing with the impending impact of four days of strike action by 40,000 staff in October but its EE mobile network reportedly suffered data service delivery problems today that affected customers in multiple areas around the UK. And if that wasn’t enough, its staff have reportedly been told that they have to return to working from an office, or customers’ premises, for three days per week or face disciplinary action, according to a report from The Register. There’s also the possibility that the operator’s unknown, but certainly substantial, savings as a result of the business user energy price cap announced by the UK government this week might grate on the nerves of the British taxpaying public – see UK energy price caps hand UK telcos a Christmas bonus. 

Deutsche Telekom (DT) announced that its collaboration with domestic rival O2 (Telefónica Deutschland) with regards to improving mobile coverage in rural areas has gone live in Germany and the duo are now expanding their joint work to enhance services in so-called “grey areas” (where only one provider offers mobile network access). In an update announcement, DT said the two operators have now granted each other access to 200 cell sites, with a wider goal to share access in up to 700 locations by the year end. According to the German operator, this would improve the coverage for about 100,000 people in the country. The pair joined forces in 2021 to close mobile coverage gaps in rural parts of Germany and, since then, it claims to have tackled 2,600 grey spots. You can find out more from DT’s statement available in German here.

US telco Verizon will be able to expand its drone operations, such as making flights beyond the visual line of sight (at distances outside the visible range of the pilot), after it was granted an International Standards for Business Aircraft Operations (IS-BAO) registration. The operator claimed that its corporate drone programme is the first-ever to achieve the registration and that it is now the second drone operator in the US to be registered under the industry standard. Verizon launched the programme in 2017 and, since then, has operated more than 17,000 drone flights to test its network and monitor its performance. According to the telco, drones help it get work done more quickly, safely and efficiently. See more.

Staying with Verizon… The operator won a $11.5m contract from the US Department of Defense (DoD) to deploy a private 5G network in an aircraft maintenance hangar on the Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam (JBPHH) military base. According to Verizon, this will allow on-base personnel to explore how enhanced wireless coverage can increase operational efficiencies. Swedish vendor Ericsson will help Verizon with the project, bringing a core and radio access network to the test site. According to Maggie Hallbach, senior vice president for the public sector at Verizon, the private 5G network is an example of how the operator is helping the DoD deliver “innovative, mission-critical capabilities across a range of military operations through advanced network and communications solutions”.

Enterprise services giant Orange Business Services (OBS), its cybersecurity services sister operation Orange Cyberdefense, and Netskope, a secure access service edge (SASE) specialist, have teamed up to deliver a “new SSE [security service edge] solution embedded into the Orange Telco Cloud Platform,” according to OBS. “The enhanced solution is designed to deliver optimal performance with maximised security, meaning enterprises will no longer need to find a compromise between the two,” added OBS, in this announcement. 

Telecom Italia (TIM) has joined the European Green Digital Coalition, a project launched by European technology companies, and supported by the European Commission and Parliament, that aims to harness the “potential of digital solutions to enable the green transformation”. Read more.

- The staff, TelecomTV