Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: STC signs IoT deal with Go Telecom; Ireland's fiber network progresses; VMO2 ups the upload.
Orange is "considering strategic options" for its African and Middle Eastern towers business, according to a Bloomberg report (paywall applies) citing "people familiar with the matter." The mystery insiders say that the France-based operator is looking at a range of options that includes selling off the towers country by country, offloading the whole lot at once, sharing towers with its rivals or holding an IPO. In recent years, spinning off towers has been an increasingly popular option for Europe's debt-laden telcos.
(Source: l_martinez/Alamy Stock Photo)
Saudi Telecom Company (STC) has signed a deal which will allow Go Telecom (a brand owned by Etihad Atheeb) to provide IoT services over STC's network in Saudi Arabia.
The National Broadband Ireland (NBI) fiber network has clocked up its 30,000th connection as part of Ireland's National Broadband Plan, a government-led and partly state-funded initiative to get high-speed broadband to all premises across the republic.
The number of active mobile subscribers in France reached 80.221 million in December 2022 – equating to 97.1% of total customers – in the latest figures compiled by Arcep, the French communications regulator. This compares to 78.538 million active subscribers in December 2021. Mobile penetration rate, meanwhile, was up from 119.3% to 121.8%.
Converged UK operator Virgin Media O2 is increasing the upload speeds on some of its business broadband packages at no extra charge. New and existing customers will be able to access 10:1 download-to-upload ratio speeds across all "Voom" packages – so the upload speed on a Voom 600 package will be increased to 60 Mbit/s, for example.
And on the residential side, Virgin Media O2 is now offering its TV customers the opportunity to access Sky Sports Ultra HD channels, though they will have to pay an extra £7 a month for the privilege.
— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading
