Eurobites: Fridman investment vehicle backs UK fiber upstart

Telefónica has completed the €6.2 billion ($7.5 billion) sale of its Telxius tower business to American Tower Corporation (ATC), following regulatory approvals in Spain and Germany. The transaction will reduce the company's net debt by approximately €3.4 billion and present something of a challenge to Cellnex, which has until now been the dominant towers player in Europe. (See Telefónica goes towerless with €7.7B sale to ATC.)

UK competition regulators could be getting twitchy after the CEO of newly merged Virgin Media O2, Lutz Schüler, refused to rule out becoming a co-investor in BT's fiber rollout, claims a report in the Telegraph. Last month BT announced it was looking to upgrade 25 million premises to full-fiber broadband by the end of 2025, a hike of 5 million on its previous goal, adding that it was in the market for joint ventures to help make it happen. (See BT ups FTTP target to 25M premises by 2026.)

Ericsson is pushing a new private networks platform aimed primarily at heavy-duty industries such as mining and manufacturing. Ericsson Private 5G, as the platform is called, offers cloud-based network management and keeps sensitive data in-house, says the Swedish vendor. Ericsson claims that it can be "easily installed within hours at any facility."

Telia Company has completed the sale of its international carrier business, Telia Carrier, to Polhem Infra for 9.45 billion Swedish kronor ($1.13 billion). The deal, announced in October 2020, was apparently prompted by a desire for Telia Company to focus on its core Nordic and Baltic footprint. (See Telia flogs international carrier business for $1.1B.)

Belgium's Proximus has been the given the green light by its domestic competition regulator for its proposed acquisition of Mobile Vikings, which also includes the JIM Mobile brand, in a deal worth €130 million ($158.2 million). In 2020, Mobile Vikings generated €50 million ($60.8 million) in revenue and EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) of €15 million ($18.2 million).

Telenor has appointed Kaaren Hilsen as the CEO of its newly established tower company, Telenor Tower Holding AS, effective September 1. Hilsen has served as CEO of Telenor Sweden since March 2019.

Irish operator Eir has launched a new 5G fixed wireless access broadband service for homes and businesses that cannot yet receive high-speed wired broadband. Customers can connect up to 20 devices within their home to the service, which costs €44.99 ($54.76) a month for an unlimited 5G data plan on a 12-month contract, with a one-off cost of €99 ($120.5) for the Huawei-made router that it is using for the service.

Deutsche Telekom has teamed up with Continental, manufacturer of tires and more, to develop a system that warns of potential collisions between connected vehicles and cyclists or other vulnerable road users such as scooter riders and pedestrians. Using a combination of GPS, mobile communications and cloud computing, the system calculates the paths taken by the various road users and warns them if they are stand a good chance of being flattened. The results of the collaboration will be shown at the ITS World Congress in Hamburg in October.

UK altnet Hyperoptic has unveiled a new "site-wide Wi-Fi" product that it says has been specifically developed to address the needs of build-to-rent (BTR) investors and operators. It uses a series of access points positioned throughout a development, which means that as residents roam around the development, their devices remain connected to their own individual network. The product also includes other features such as footfall analytics, which offers insights into how people are moving around and engaging with their building, and a management portal that enables BTR operators to easily activate and "onboard" new residents to their Wi-Fi connection.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading