Vodafone India announced on April 3 the completion of the sale of its standalone tower unit in India to ATC Telecom Infrastructure Private Limited for an enterprise value of INR 38.5 billion (€478 million). Vodafone India is merging with Indian telecom company Idea Cellular, and both companies announced their intention to sell their individual tower businesses.
Industry News
Australian operator tests 5G-enabled Wi-Fi in Gold Coast
Australian telecommunications incumbent Telstra has announced that it is testing 5G-enabled Wi-Fi hotspots on two streets in Gold Coast in an effort to give users a taste of 5G as it evaluates its next move in relation to next-generation mobile technology.
Fiscal analysts predicting first quarterly loss in 15 years for Indian operator
Financial analysts are projecting that Indian telecommunications incumbent Bharti Airtel will post its first quarterly loss in 15 years for the three months to end-March. The quarterly loss is a by-product of an intense price war in the telecommunications sector in India which continues to erode its bottom line and shows no signs of abating.
Huawei launches P20 and P20 Pro smartphones
At an exclusive launch event held on March 27 in Paris, Huawei Consumer Business Group unveiled the HUAWEI P20 and HUAWEI P20 Pro. The HUAWEI P20 Pro features the world’s first Leica triple camera, and both devices include unprecedented AI advances, the company said in a statement. Huawei also unveiled the Porsche Design HUAWEI Mate RS (Race Sport).
China Mobile set to build public/private cloud services infrastructure with Nokia
Nokia's Nuage Networks has been chosen by China Mobile (Suzhou) Software Technical Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Mobile, as the SDN platform for China Mobile's public and private enterprise cloud services offering. The platform is based on the Nuage Networks VSP and includes cloud implementations on virtual machines, Kubernetes (K8S) containers and OpenStack Ironic-based bare metal servers.
IDC predicts that smart city spending in APAC region to exceed $28bn in 2018
A comprehensive report conducted by the IDC has projected that smart city expenditure is set to reach $28.3bn in 2018. The report analyzed the estimated spending on technologies that is set to be integrated in order to facilitate smart city programs in the Asia Pacific.
Vodafone partners with Nokia for pre-standard 5G trials in NZ
Telecommunications operator Vodafone New Zealand has announced that it has conducted pre-standard 5G trials in partnership with Nokia in an effort to demonstrate how it can evolve its networks from 4G to 5G.
Vodafone India and Idea Cellular announce post-merger leadership team
Vodafone Group and Indian telecom company Idea Cellular have announced the proposed leadership team of the combined business, which will come into effect after the merger has been completed. This is in line with the original merger announcement of 20 March 2017, which said that the management team of the combined business would be confirmed prior to closing.
Ericsson targets $1.2bn cost reduction by mid-2018
Swedish telecom equipment vendor Ericsson plans to reduce costs by at least SEK 10 billion (around $1.2 billion) by mid-2018 to compensate sluggish profits. Ericsson revealed at its annual general meeting (AGM) that for the full year 2017 net sales decreased by 10 percent to SEK 201 billion, and operating income was down 38.1 percent.
Japanese conglomerate awaiting regulator to approve sale of its chip unit
Japanese technology conglomerate Toshiba has announced that it is still waiting for regulators to approve the sale of its prized chip unit to US firm Bain Capital. The deal between the two entities was agreed in September, but the deal has still not been rubberstamped by regulators.