Retail

Jul 1, 2020

Telia and Turkcell Part Company

Sweden’s Telia Company is one step closer to concentrating operations on its core Scandinavia and Baltic units. A recent agreement cemented the plan to offload its stake in Turkcell.

May 28, 2020

Liberty vs Security: The Battle Over SIM Registration

Would you be happy to have your fingerprints taken or get a facial scan to access phone services? Or would you consider it intrusive?

Mar 24, 2020

The Great British Sell-Off: How BT Intends to Dismantle Its Global Empire

In December 2019, UK telecom giant BT Group agreed to sell BT Espana to investment fund Portobello Capital. This was the first part of its plan to dismantle and sell off its sprawling BT Global Services unit. This month, BT agreed to offload its Latin American businesses to CIH Telecommunications Americas, marking the second confirmed transaction.

Today we examine BT’s motivations and take a closer look at other businesses that are likely to be sold off.

Mar 2, 2020

Finns Lead the Way in Mobile Data Usage

Mobile data usage continues to boom worldwide.

Here’s just one example. Following Super Bowl LIV in Miami, AT&T reported that users in the stadium consumed 10.2TB of mobile data during the game. This is enough to stream high-definition video for almost two months straight.

Jan 23, 2020

Tracking the 4G Decade

December 2019 marked the tenth anniversary of the world’s first commercial LTE network launch. Scandinavian telco Telia paved the way in Stockholm and Oslo way back in 2009.

As for the decade that followed? Let’s take a closer look.

Jan 16, 2020

The French Billionaire Who Quietly Amassed an International Telecom Empire

French billionaire Xavier Niel rose to prominence in the telecom world for his ownership of domestic telco Iliad. You might know Iliad for sparking a price war in the mobile sector when Iliad’s Free Mobile 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 and the lack of a unified brand name across markets.

Today we piece it all together to appreciate the bigger picture.

Jul 3, 2019

How Telefonica Hung Up on Central America

After months of speculation linking Spanish telecom giant Telefonica to a sale of its Central American operations, in January and February 2019 the group agreed to offload all five of its units in the region. Today we look at the deals in question and evaluate how they’ll impact the competitive landscape in Central America.

Mar 26, 2019

How Nextel Disappeared from Latin America

Mexican telecom giant America Movil (AM) recently struck an agreement to acquire 100 percent of Nextel Brazil from its co-owners, U.S.-based NII Holdings (70 percent) and AI Brazil Holdings (30 percent). They’ll pay $905 million for the business.

When the deal receives regulatory approval, Nextel will likely merge with AM’s existing Claro business. This will make use of Nextel’s substantial spectrum holdings in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Jan 14, 2019

A Guide to 5G Spectrum Auctions in the Gulf States: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and UAE

As the telecom world prepares to enter the 5G era, our GlobalComms team has been tracking major 5G auctions around the globe. Catch up on all of them here.

Today we’ll look at what’s happening in major markets in the Middle East. We'll explore what’s happening in the Arab States that border the Persian Gulf, with a focus on Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Aug 10, 2017

The Jio Effect: How the Newcomer Made an Impact in India

The second most populous nation in the world, India has the second largest mobile market behind China. By March 2017, India was home to 1.17 billion mobile subscribers, up from 1.03 billion 12 months earlier and 969.89 million in March 2015.

Despite this, cellular penetration is comparatively low at around 90 percent at Q1 2017. This is just under the typical 93 percent among countries with a similar per-capita GDP, but well below the regional average of 100 percent.