Nov 12, 2025
Wide Open Space: How Starlink Conquered Oceania
If you're looking for updates on Starlink's expansion, you need to know how this satellite broadband provider is making rapid inroads in Oceania.
If you're looking for updates on Starlink's expansion, you need to know how this satellite broadband provider is making rapid inroads in Oceania.
Brazil’s multi-band 5G spectrum auction concluded in November 2021, resulting in total commitments of $8.5 billion (BRL 47.2 billion) and bids from major players: Telefónica Brasil (Vivo), Claro Brasil, and TIM Brasil. It also garnered attention from established regional companies, such as Algar Telecom and Sercomtel, as well as several lesser-known participants.
How are Brazil's 5G licensees making progress three and a half years later? Here's what the data says.
In May, U.S. cable giants Charter Communications and Cox Communications entered into a definitive agreement to combine their businesses in a “transformative transaction” that will create an industry leader in the U.S. cable sector.
French billionaire Xavier Niel rose to prominence in the telecom world for his ownership of domestic telco Iliad. He went on to capture the industry’s attention when Iliad sparked a price war in the mobile sector when the telco’s Free Mobile unit launched in January 2012. (Niel employed a similar price-war tactic when Iliad Italia launched in May 2018.)
But these companies only represent the tip of the iceberg.
Indeed, the size and scale of Niel’s empire are often overlooked due to convoluted shareholder structures, the use of myriad holding companies – including NJJ Capital, Atlas Investissement and Iliad itself – and the lack of a unified brand name across markets.
Today we piece it all together to appreciate the bigger picture.
Back in early 2019, after months of speculation linking Telefonica to a sale of its Central American operations, the Spanish telecom giant agreed to offload all five of its units in the region.
By the end of 2019, the Madrid-based group had unveiled a five-point turnaround strategy to overhaul its business.
Verizon’s shock agreement to acquire ISP giant Frontier Communications in a $20 billion all-cash deal looks set to herald a new era of fixed-mobile convergence in the U.S. telecom market.
The takeover—which is expected to close in 18 months, subject to regulatory approval—follows a series of eye-catching fiber-related announcements involving chief rivals AT&T Communications and T-Mobile US.
Today, we take a look at the respective fiber strategies of the “Big Three” U.S. mobile operators.
British telecom regulator Ofcom recently published its Connected Nations report for 2023.
The latest findings indicate that 17.1 million premises—or 57% of the United Kingdom—had access to full-fiber fixed broadband as of September 2023. This is an increase of 15 percentage points—or 4.6 million premises—when compared to the same point in 2022.
Last month saw the conclusion of the long-running mega-merger between Orange España and Grupo MASMOVIL in Spain.
The EUR19 billion ($20.5 billion) tie-up—first agreed back in July 2022—created a new Spanish market leader that presides over a mobile/fixed broadband subscription base of 37 million. Now known as MasOrange, the 50:50 joint venture looks like a force to be reckoned with.
Today, we take a look at the Spanish deals that came into play in the wake of the merger, and see how they could reshape the telecom landscape.
Earlier this month, South African ISP Vumatel announced that its fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) infrastructure now passes two million homes. One million of these homes are in traditionally underserved areas, such as townships.
This network footprint means that Vumatel now presides over a more substantial FTTH network than Telkom South Africa’s Openserve unit.
Fiber ISPs are very much on the rise in South Africa, with multiple players gaining traction with their regional rollouts.
Unusually, the majority of these operators use an open access business model, allowing dozens of smaller companies to market and resell fiber connectivity.
Today, we take a look at the main players driving fiber growth in South Africa.
