Liberty Global and Telefónica have reached an agreement to combine British operations O2 and Virgin Media. This is under a new, £31.4bn agreement that could have a huge impact on the UK market.
The second day of this year’s ANGA COM conference and exhibition in Cologne saw the Broadband and Media Summit prompt lively debate amongst panellists, particularly regarding the recently announced Vodafone Deutschland-Unitymedia acquisition. Keely Portway reports
Moderator, Claus Strunz mediated between participants Dr. Manuel Cubero, CCO, Vodafone; Lutz Schüler CEO, Unitymedia; Conrad Albert, deputy CEO and group general council, ProSiebenSat.1 Media; Carsten Schmidt CEO, Sky Deutschland; and Dr. Dirk Wössner, member of the board of management for Germany Deutsche Telekom.
UPC Switzerland has acquired a cable network that serves some 15,000 homes in the Höfe region of Germany, from EW Höfe.
EW Höfe said that it decided to sell its existing cable network to long-standing partner and Liberty Global-owned company, UPC Switzerland, in order to focus on the expansion of its new fibre optic network. This is set for completion in 2019.
Vodafone has agreed to acquire Liberty Global’s operations in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania for an enterprise value of €18.4 billion.
The four businesses represent approximately 28 per cent of the cable group’s consolidated 2017 operating cash flow, which does not include its 50 per cent share from the VodafoneZiggo joint venture in the Netherlands.
The plans for an economic recovery will undoubtedly need vast levels of public and private investment.
Leading industry lights talk to Keely Portway about the challenges and opportunities faced by the optical communications supply chain in the last 12 months, and predict what could lie ahead
Mark Lutkowitz on future 400ZR pricing, its impact on certain key vendors and the outlook for 400ZR+ and 800ZR
While the Covid-19 crisis clearly impacted infrastructure deployment in Europe in 2020, it also undoubtedly reinforced operators’ mid-term FTTH ambitions
The all-important multi-vendor interoperability can only be achieved via industry collaboration, finds Keely Portway
2020 has shown standards are key to building the networks of tomorrow, and that’s something to be excited about, argues Bernd Hesse
Keely Portway counts down some of the most-viewed and industry-shaping news stories of 2020
Large webscale internet content providers have undoubtedly been the wielders of power in recent years. The only thing greater for them, has been their hunger for data.
