Eurobites: CityFibre Forges Ahead

News Analysis Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe 7/25/2016

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Telekom Austria has a flat first half; Tele2 to put Nokia's Cloud Packet Core to work; BT offers to set up separate board for Openreach.

CityFibre , the competitive wholesale transport network operator that is offering a dark fiber alternative to the data services offered by BT Group plc (NYSE: BT; London: BTA) in some areas of the UK, has seen the value of its contracts reach £53.8 million (US$70.6 million) in the first six months of 2016 -- more than double the amount it added in the whole of 2015. The number of new customer connections in the period hit 3,702, more than three times the equivalent 2015 figure, and it now boasts 49 service provider relationships, up from 33 a year ago. (See UFO Brings Hope to FTTH Altnets, CityFibre Takes On BT With $136M KCOM Acquisition and CityFibre's Gigabit Vision.)

Telekom Austria Group has had a flat first half, with total revenues falling 1.2% to €1.03 billion ($1.13 billion) and EBITDA down 1% to €329.3 million ($361.6 million). Currency movements were partly to blame, though the negative effects of the abolition of retail roaming charges within the European Union also took their toll.

Table 1: Telekom Austria Group: Highlights Q2 2016

Key Performance Indicators (€M)	Q2 2016 reported	Q2 2015 proforma	% change	1-6 M 2016 reported	1-6 M 2015 proforma	% change
Total Revenues	1,030.7	1,032.2	-0.2%	2,040.1	2,065.1	-1.2%
EBITDA	329.3	326.8	0.7%	663.6	670.1	-1.0%
% Total Revenues	31.9%	31.7%		32.5%	32.4%
EBIT	114.5	117.9	-2.9%	231.7	257	-9.8%
% Total Revenues	11.1%	11.4%		11.4%	12.4%
Source: Telekom Austria Group

Swedish operator Tele2 AB (Nasdaq: TLTO) is to deploy Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) 's Cloud Packet Core offering across its entire network, beginning with Croatia. Cloud Packet Core runs on the OpenStack NFV infrastructure. Elements of Nokia's Cloud Packet Core solution, including the Cloud Mobile Gateway, were recently assessed by the European Advanced Networking Test Center AG (EANTC) in a test set up by Light Reading. (See Tele2 to Deploy Nokia's Cloud Packet Core and Validating Nokia's IP Routing & Mobile Gateway VNFs.)

In a bid stop the regulator from splitting BT from Openreach , its network access division, the UK incumbent has said it will form a separate board for its Openreach business, the BBC reports. Just last week, a Select Committee of MPs published a report criticizing BT for under-investing in Openreach and milking it to fund "sexier" initiatives such as its TV sports channels.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading